Other books that might interest you

• 

  Hedda Gabler

  Henrik Ibsen

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Hedda Gabler is a classic play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Set in the late nineteenth century, the play follows the life of Hedda, a young socialite whose life is filled with endless boredom and longing. As she struggles to find her place in society, Hedda’s inner turmoil is reflected in her desperate attempts to break free of the societal norms that bind her. This emotional journey is filled with suspense and drama, as Hedda’s choices have the power to shape her own destiny. 
  With its timeless themes, Hedda Gabler is one of the most powerful and thought-provoking plays of all time. This edition is based on the 1907 translation by William Archer (1856–1924) and Edmund Gosse (1849–1928).

  Show book

• 

  Biscuits for Breakfast

  Gareth Farr

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  'If you can cook, if you know flavour and taste and texture, people will pay you to do it. People always need to eat. Always.'
  They don't seem an obvious match. Joanne is spiky, defensive, a survivor; Paul is quiet, considered – and hiding profound grief for his father. But the pleasure he takes in cooking – and the astonishing food he prepares – creates a bond between them.
  When the hotel where they both work closes and they start to spiral into poverty, it throws everything up in the air – first their plans for a cookbook and a restaurant, and, eventually, even their dreams of a future together...
  Gareth Farr's play Biscuits for Breakfast is a tender, heartfelt drama about families – the ones we inherit and the ones we create – and the struggle to survive when times get tough. It opened at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2023, directed by Tessa Walker.

  Show book

• 

  The View from Childhood - New...

  Angela Alaimo O'Donnell

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A love letter to the lives, loves, losses, and other mysteries that lay at the heart of our history.
  Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, grandchild of Italian immigrants, granddaughter of coal miners, and author of twelve published poetry collections and thousands of poems, offers her most personal collection to date. These are poems that speak to people, for all of us come from somewhere—some world we have necessarily left behind but that still lives within us and makes us who we are.
  This book is for lovers of stories, told through artful poems and vivid prose, as it invites us all to reflect, laugh, smile, shed a tear, re-live, and perhaps even make sense of our own childhood experiences. Dip into it while sitting by the fire or gathered with friends and family in a shared celebration of our personal histories and the bonds that connect us to one another.
  "The childhood belonging to each of us is unique, as is each human being—yet there are some things that remain constant. We all have a mother and father, and, if we are lucky, sisters and brothers. We all have a place that we come from that has helped shape us into who we are. We all have memories that stay with us, bring us joy, and haunt us, and we all face the daily decision of what to do with those memories—to preserve them or to let them fade. My vocation, as a poet, compels me to turn them into story and song. These poems tell my stories, and I also hope they, in some way, tell yours." -Angela Alaimo O'Donnell

  Show book

• 

  Remotely Annoying

  Larry Enright

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This 1 hour, 3 actor, 3 scene comedy is meant to be enjoyed with friends around the dinner table after a good meal and plenty of libations.  
  The premise: The two main characters, Albert and Larry, are 80 year-old twins who have been picking at each other all their lives. They share an apartment, have just purchased a new TV, and are having some difficulty getting it to work. Sounds simple, but things go downhill fast from there and eventually off the cliff when the landlord arrives. The play has a lot of quick back-and-forth dialog so it reads like a comedy routine. It can be performed sitting around the table if someone is reading the stage directions. Actual age of actors is not important. 
  Minimum props required: TV remote, cell phone, two pieces of paper with Awww! and Clap! written on them, two foldout brochures of any kind to function as TV Quick Start Guide and headphone guide. The rest can be mimed. 
  If your plan is to perform it onstage, go for it. You have my blessing as long as you credit the work. Posting a review with a pic of the production would be possibly hilarious, but definitely cool. 
  ​​​​​​​Reviews: The Lansdowne Times might call Remotely Annoying the funniest thing since sliced bread, but nobody thinks sliced bread is funny and there is no Lansdowne Times. However, this play has been fully tested and approved by 8 brave souls who, shall they rest in peace, died laughing. 

  Show book

• 

  Badgers

  Malaika Kegode

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  'I came here looking for the truth behind the disappearance. What I found was something stranger.' 
  Meles is a podcaster with a dying mother and a stalling career, and she's about to stumble into something unfathomable. A recluse, a disappearance, a mysterious folk song. This is a story that could change everything – but is it really her story to tell?
  Badgers is a shapeshifting, mercurial play: a folk tale about folk tales, an exploration of the art of letting go, and an enquiry into the ethics of true crime. Produced by Theatre Royal Plymouth in association with Bristol Old Vic, Malaika Kegode's play premiered at the Traverse Theatre as part of the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by Jenny Davies and with music by Jakabol.

  Show book

• 

  Petrarch's Canzoniere -...

  Francesco Petrarch

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Francesco Petrarch's Canzoniere (translated in English as 'Scattered Rhymes') is a collection of 14th century poems famed for their deep exploration of love, grief, spirituality and nature. Written over the course of forty years (approximately between 1328-1368), this collection includes 317 sonnets, 29 canzoni, 9 sestine, 4 madrigals and 7 ballate. 
  These Scattered Rhymes almost always return to Laura, a women who Petrarch loves deeply, whom he first saw on a Good Friday. On this same day, some years later, Laura died. But Petrarch's love does not wane, in fact at points it burns brighter. Il Canzoniere also serves as a valuable contemporary insight into 14th century religion and the role of the papacy in Christendom. 
  Petrarch's work is one of civilization's most immaculate achievements. Michael R. G. Spiller regards Il Canzoniere as 'the single greatest inspiration for the love poetry of Renaissance Europe until well into the seventeenth century'. 
  Following his acclaimed translation of Dante's Inferno, which 'immediately joins ranks with the very best available in English' (Dr Richard Lansing), Peter Thornton brings the poetry of Petrarch to the 21st Century in direct and luminous verse. 
  Here's a madrigal, number 52 in the sequence. 
  52 
  However much Diana may have pleasedthe lover who by like chance spied her bareamid the frigid water, I no less 
  delighted in the shy hill shepherdesswashing a wisp of veil to keep her hair,glinting with gold, protected from the breeze.  
  And even now, when the sky burns above,she makes me shiver with a chill of love.

  Show book