Other books that might interest you

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  Burnt by the Sun (NHB Modern Plays)

  Peter Flannery

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  A rich evocation of a world poised on the brink of Stalin's Great Terror, based on the 1994 Oscar-winning film written by Nikita Mikhalkov and Rustam Ibragimbekov.
  General Kotov, decorated hero of the Russian Revolution, is spending an idyllic summer in the country with his beloved young wife and family. But on one glorious sunny morning in 1936, his wife's former lover returns from a long and unexplained absence. Amidst a tangle of sexual jealousy, retribution and remorseless political backstabbing, Kotov feels the full, horrifying reach of Stalin's rule.
  'a cracker... starts out like something by Chekhov and ends up as a gripping Stalinist thriller... Funny, affecting and taut with suspense, Burnt by the Sun is a new play that already feels like a classic' - Telegraph
  'a brilliant playwriting achievement... a wonderful panoramic view of a family and its misfortune with an inexorable, gruesome dramatic tread' - Independent

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  Asking for It (NHB Modern Plays)

  Louise O'Neill

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  One night in a small town in County Cork, where everyone knows everyone, things spiral terrifyingly out of control. What will happen now to Emma? To her family? To the others?
  This stage adaptation of Louise O'Neill's devastating novel, Asking for It, shines an unflinching light on the experience of a young woman whose life is changed for ever by a horrific act of violence.
  Adapted by Meadhbh McHugh, in collaboration with its director Annabelle Comyn, the play premiered at the Everyman, Cork, in June 2018, before transferring to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It was produced by Landmark Productions and the Everyman, in association with the Abbey Theatre.
  'A genuinely heartbreaking, sickening and truthful examination of society's penchant for victim-blaming, its treatment of women and the concept of rape culture' - Guardian on Louise O'Neill's novel
  'With a script by Meadhbh McHugh that is sharp and also very funny, Asking for It not only stays faithful to the novel, it goes further, raising it up to heaven and down to hell, too. It is worth the hype' - Irish Independent
  'Powerful, provocative, hard-hitting, shocking… a sharply observed and at times wincingly true-to-life portrayal of a family and its disintegration… funny, infuriating and unbearably sad' -
  Irish Examiner

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  The Sweet Science of Bruising...

  Joy Wilkinson

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  London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring.
  As their lives begin to intertwine, their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs, where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching, only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World…
  Joy Wilkinson's play The Sweet Science of Bruising is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism. It premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in 2018, in a production by Troupe.

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  Edgar A Poe: The True Story of...

  Liam Dale

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  “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 
  Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, 
  While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
  As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 
  "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - 
  Only this, and nothing more." 
   
  Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, 
  And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. 
  Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had tried to borrow 
  From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - 
  For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore, 
  Nameless here for evermore.” 
   
  These are the first two verses of ‘The Raven’, a poem full of dark and disturbing images, rife with tension, fear, paranoia, terror and a yearning for a lost love that has returned to this earth as a ghost. As a poem ‘The Raven’ is without doubt more famous and widely known than the troubled author who penned it. His name was Edgar Allan Poe, and his work was directly responsible for shaping the modern horror industry as we know it. He was the Godfather of Gore, the Father of Fear, the Master of the Macabre, and the Guardian of the Gruesome. Poe was also one of the best mystery writers of all time, however the most fascinating puzzle he left us was that of his own life, and in this journal, we will follow in the great man’s footsteps to turn detective. 
   
  Edgar Allan Poe was born early in the 19th Century, yet still his legacy lives on. Throughout this celebration of his life and work, you’ll also get the opportunity to read extracts from his poetry and prose, some of which will be very familiar but just as terrifying all the same!

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  Faust Parts 1 & 2

  Johann Wolfgang Goethe

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  Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price
  A fresh, performable version by John Clifford of Goethe's 'unstageable' masterpiece.
  God and Mephistopheles vie for the mortal soul of Dr Faust. Signing a pact with the nihilistic spirit, Faust is privy to knowledge unbound and sensual delights of which most men can only dream. But before long, the Doctor comes to realise that you should always be very careful what you wish for.
  Goethe began working on Faust in about 1772-5. He published a first fragment of it in 1790, then the whole of Part One in 1808. He saw the first performance of Part One in Brunswick in 1829, and was still making minor revisions to Part Two shortly before his death in March 1832.
  This two-part English version by John Clifford, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, was first performed at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in February 2006.
  'A thoroughly modern interpretation, a litany of society's soul-selling compromises - sexual commoditisation, academic dumbing-down and capitalistic rapaciousness - that is entirely about today. It's frequently funny but never less than serious' - Guardian

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  The Emma Press Anthology of the...

  Eve Lacey

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  In The Emma Press Anthology of the Sea, poets ask how the human mind can fathom the ocean's depths. The sea emerges as at once strange and familiar, bearing witness to storms, naval history, ocean creatures and the human desire for freedom. As the poets embark on voyages of self-discovery, the sea laps at the boundaries of language, offering both mystery and solace to the reader.

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