Publisher: Nick Hern Books
A play exploring the impact of colonialism through a meeting between Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave and abolitionist who visited Ireland in the 1840s, and a young Irishwoman hoping to emigrate to the country he's running from. Deirdre Kinahan's short play Wild Notes was first staged by Solas Nua in Washington D.C. in 2018.
Winner of the Best of the Edinburgh Fringe Prize Althea: Do you believe in your own death? Every moment you are alive is endless and the present goes on and on with you inside it. Of course the end is truly coming, but it’s so far off, and in the meantime the spring bulbs need bringing out of the dark and the windows must be cleaned. These distant murmurings of unrest are like the way you sometimes hear your name on the wind and you shudder. Because it’s eerie that the wind should know your name. This remarkable autobiographical play by the award-winning author of Building Jerusalem and Martin Sloane, is a Russian-doll-like play: concentric stories enveloping each other. A writer is told, in confidence, a terrible tale of murder and injustice and he promises never to repeat the story. Goodness is the writer breaking his word. Recently divorced, Michael Redhill goes to Poland to get away from his life and to do some research on the Holocaust. Thwarted by witnesses unwilling to talk, he returns home via England, but in London is introduced to someone who can tell him a 'real' story of evil. Through this reluctant witness, Redhill learns of a genocide. He encounters, through the memory of the storyteller, an alleged war criminal, about to be put on trial. But this is an old man with Alzheimer's who can no longer remember the time his crimes were allegedly committed. Has his guilt dissolved with his memory? Could he be pretending to be ill in order to escape punishment? The witness conjures for Redhill the war criminal's passionate and beautiful daughter, who will defend her father at all costs. There is also the prosecuting attorney, who has much in common with the old man whose destruction he seeks. As well as an uncomfortable attraction to his daughter. Each is drawn to theother. All is witnessed by a female prison guard - the one who tells the playwright, years later, what really happened in the quest to give a nation some closure. Everyone's story is compelling, and the ending is as unexpected as it is shocking. Who do we believe? A prison guard still wounded by history? A writer suffering from heartache? A dying war criminal? What is our responsibility? Who does memory serve? Did the past really happen? And if it did, who has a claim on it? Goodness is a play about what happens in the gaps between experiencing, telling and hearing.Show book
Shortlisted for the 2018 Singapore Literature Prize Bitter Punch is Loh Guan Liang’s second collection of poetry. With a wry eye for the everyday and its often forgotten characters, Loh explores what it means to live and love in the city. Even as it depicts the tension between ourselves and the spaces we inhabit, Bitter Punch still seeks sweetness in life’s hard, bitter moments. "At the heart of Bitter Punch is the passing of love. Loh Guan Liang has constructed a personal map of elegiac half-escapes although his book is also a love letter to the enigmatic city that has been sustaining him. These poems will haunt you with its cool detachment, its overthinking, and its sombre rhythm in search of connection through words." -Gwee Li Sui, poet and criticShow book
Discover the Wit and Wonder of British Drama from the height of the Victorian era! Step into the captivating world of British theatre with The Quizziology of the British Drama, a delightful and witty exploration of the plays, playwrights, and performances that have shaped the stage. Penned by the brilliant satirist and dramatist Gilbert Abbott A'Beckett, this charming book explores the stage passions through extended verse, a motley crew of stage characters that no good play is without, and a series of one-act 'deleted' plays in the style of famous playwrights of the time. A'Beckett, a master of humor and keen observer of the theatrical arts, takes you on a journey through the triumphs and foibles of British drama. From Shakespearean classics to the farces and melodramas of the 19th century, The Quizziology of the British Drama offers a unique blend of exposition, critique, and playful commentary. Whether you're a seasoned theatregoer or a curious newcomer, this book promises to spark your curiosity and leave you laughing at the quirks of the dramatic world. Perfect for book clubs, drama students, or writers, The Quizziology of the British Drama is full of sharp wit and clever observations. With its engaging style and timeless appeal, this book is a must-have for anyone who appreciates the magic of the stage. Don’t miss your chance to own this gem of theatrical literature. Add The Quizziology of the British Drama to your collection today and uncover the fascinating, funny, and unforgettable world of British theatre!Show book
'Maybe gender is like life? And like time too? In that it doesn't actually exist, and yet our world revolves around the expectations we put on it.' Starting in the quaint days of dial-up and MSN, Happy Meal is a funny, moving and nostalgic story of transition, following two initial strangers on their journeys from teen to adult; from MySpace to TikTok; from cis to trans... Tabby Lamb's joyful trans rom-com was directed by Jamie Fletcher and produced by Roots and Theatre Royal Plymouth, with ETT and Oxford Playhouse, on a UK tour in 2022, including a run at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Fringe First Award.Show book
The return of a spectacular, reviled, and iconic classic of American filth—listen as Waters himself acts out each role!John Waters takes us back to the scene of his original crime against good taste. Listen as Babs Johnson fights to hold on to her title as “Filthiest Person Alive,“ fending off the craven attempts to dethrone her by her nemeses Connie and Raymond Marble.Waters takes us on a romp through his filthy vision of Baltimore, from a child’s playpen occupied by an egg-worshipping grandmother to unhinged kangaroo courts, to the film’s iconic and revolting coup de grace (no spoilers, but it is just as stomach-churning on the page more than fifty years later!). Pink Flamingos is John Waters at his provocative, disgusting, piety-puncturing best, with the hellish and hilarious trash masterpiece that first made him a household name.A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Show book
Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by the American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892).The poems of Leaves of Grass are loosely connected, with each representing Whitman's celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity. This book is notable for its discussion of delight in sensual pleasures during a time when such candid displays were considered immoral. Where much previous poetry, especially English, relied on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass exalted the body and the material world.Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises nature and the individual human's role in it. However, much like Emerson, Whitman does not diminish the role of the mind or the spirit; rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind, deeming both worthy of poetic praise.Show book
