- Table View
- List View
Bashment (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Rikki Beadle-Blair"Was it the music that made you do it? Did you chant lyrics while you beat his brains out? Did the preacher inspire you to despise people who fall in love without your permission? Where does the rage begin?""He was white. And he was queer. And he was there. In our club. In our music. In our face. What's he expect? A kiss and a cuddle?"An electrifying new play - hard-hitting, tender and painfully funny. About love, about hate - Bashment is a play for our times.
Familyman (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Rikki Beadle-BlairCaesar Ramsay works hard for his family. But the news his son Nelson reveals sends Caesar’s seemingly ordinary life rapidly spinning out of his control! Fast, furious and very funny, Familyman asks some vital questions for twentieth-century parents, like: • How do you learn to be a dad when yours left before you were two? • How do you take on responsibility for a child before you’re legally responsible for yourself? • How do you teach your children respect in an age of liberal parenting? • How do you raise happy, confi dent and successful children without throttling them before they reach eighteen? Fresh, insightful and delivered with razor-sharp wit, Familyman confi rms what many of us know only too well – parenting is messy!
FIT (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Rikki Beadle-BlairFIT is a bold and groundbreaking new play for young people written and directed by acclaimed writer/director Rikki Beadle-Blair. The play was developed to address the growing problem of homophobic bullying in Britain's schools and was especially created for Key Stage 3 (KS3) students (Year 7-9), specifically complementing various learning objectives from the National Curriculum, particularly PHSE and Citizenship. FIT is about attempting to FIT in and trying to stand out in a culture where everything from not liking sport to wearing the wrong trainers is 'gay'. Snappy dialogue and pacy writing combine with energetic hip-hop dance, original music and sparky comedy to make FIT an unforgettable piece of theatre. FIT enjoyed a hugely successful run during 2007 and 2008, where 20,000 young people in over 75 schools across the UK saw the play, accompanied by a workshop. FIT has also been made into a short film which has toured UK Schools and will continue to tour nationwide throughout 2010 as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. The production of FIT was supported by UK Gay rights organisation Stonewall.
Gutted (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Rikki Beadle-BlairGUTTED is a fast-paced, powerful new play by Rikki Beadle-Blair. Set in South East London, this is a story about love, family and sordid secrets told through the eyes of four brothers. When the eldest brother comes out of rehab he embarks on a truth-telling mission and triggers an unstoppable family meltdown. In an explosive 24 hours, years of denial are uncovered and life will never be the same again.
Shalom Baby (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Rikki Beadle-BlairIn 1930s Berlin - an intriguing city of Jazz and overground cabaret overpowered by the rise of Hitler and World War II - the daughter of a Jewish family falls in love with their black shabbes goy (a term used for those who assist Jews on the Sabbath with tasks forbidden to Jews within Jewish law). Fast-forward to the tale of a mixed-race couple in seemingly unprejudiced modern-day Brooklyn, where the same family is coping with a number of calamities. Shalom Baby is a touching and very funny exploration of love, family and friendship.
Euripides Talks
by Alan BealeActors of Dionysus (aod), formed in 1993 to tour Classical drama in translation and have established themselves as the leading exponents of Greek tragedy in contemporary theatre and education. With many national and international touring productions, two DVDs, a Penguin audio book of "Medea" and a whole series of pre-performance talks issued in their journal "Dionysus", they have brought Greek tragedy to new audiences worldwide. Scholars have been generous in their support for aod, and this selection of talks on five of Euripides' plays, "Bacchae", "Medea", "Hippolytus", "Electra" and "Trojan Women", represents but a fraction of their contribution to aod's success. Less formal than lectures, essays or articles, these talks offer sixth-form students and the general public a more accessible approach to the thoughts of some of our leading academics about this extraordinary playwright who can still capture the imagination of a twenty-first century audience. Contributors of this title include: Chris Carey, Kenneth Dover, Alex Garvie, Jasper Griffin, Richard Janko, Richard Jenkyns, Jenny March, Richard Rutherford, Richard Seaford, and Alan Sommerstein.
Euripides Talks
by Alan BealeActors of Dionysus (aod), formed in 1993 to tour Classical drama in translation and have established themselves as the leading exponents of Greek tragedy in contemporary theatre and education. With many national and international touring productions, two DVDs, a Penguin audio book of "Medea" and a whole series of pre-performance talks issued in their journal "Dionysus", they have brought Greek tragedy to new audiences worldwide. Scholars have been generous in their support for aod, and this selection of talks on five of Euripides' plays, "Bacchae", "Medea", "Hippolytus", "Electra" and "Trojan Women", represents but a fraction of their contribution to aod's success. Less formal than lectures, essays or articles, these talks offer sixth-form students and the general public a more accessible approach to the thoughts of some of our leading academics about this extraordinary playwright who can still capture the imagination of a twenty-first century audience. Contributors of this title include: Chris Carey, Kenneth Dover, Alex Garvie, Jasper Griffin, Richard Janko, Richard Jenkyns, Jenny March, Richard Rutherford, Richard Seaford, and Alan Sommerstein.
Catching the Light: Sam Mendes And Simon Russell Beale - A Working Partnership
by Simon Russell Beale Mark Leipacher Sam MendesSam Mendes and Simon Russell Beale have forged one of the most successful working partnerships in contemporary theatre history. Across twenty years and eight productions their collaboration has evolved, matured and keeps thriving through their work on stage; six Shakespeare and two Chekhov plays form their common body of work so far.Mark Leipacher’s correspondence with Mendes and Beale and his thorough research into archival material on their collaborations, offers the reader a detailed account of the productions and, uniquely, Mendes’ and Beale’s own observations on their method of work and on the discoveries they made in each of the plays. How do moments of magic on stage arise in the rehearsal room? Catching the Light, full of anecdotes and gems of knowledge, is an indispensable read for actors, directors, students and anyone who loves the theatre.Features a foreword from Kevin Spacey, Artistic Director of the Old Vic.
World Dance Cultures: From Ritual to Spectacle
by Patricia Leigh BeamanFrom healing, fertility and religious rituals, through theatrical entertainment, to death ceremonies and ancestor worship, World Dance Cultures introduces an extraordinary variety of dance forms practiced around the world. This highly illustrated textbook draws on wide-ranging historical documentation and first-hand accounts, taking in India, Bali, Java, Cambodia, China, Japan, Hawai’i, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Africa, Turkey, Spain, Native America, South America, and the Caribbean. Each chapter covers a certain region’s distinctive dances, pinpoints key issues and trends from the form’s development to its modern iteration, and offers a wealth of study features including: Case Studies – zooming in on key details of a dance form’s cultural, historical, and religious contexts ‘Explorations’ – first-hand descriptions of dances, from scholars, anthropologists and practitioners ‘Think About’ – provocations to encourage critical analysis of dance forms and the ways in which they’re understood Discussion Questions – starting points for group work, classroom seminars or individual study Further Study Tips – listing essential books, essays and video material. Offering a comprehensive overview of each dance form covered with over 100 full color photos, World Dance Cultures is an essential introductory resource for students and instructors alike.
World Dance Cultures: From Ritual to Spectacle
by Patricia Leigh BeamanFrom healing, fertility and religious rituals, through theatrical entertainment, to death ceremonies and ancestor worship, World Dance Cultures introduces an extraordinary variety of dance forms practiced around the world. This highly illustrated textbook draws on wide-ranging historical documentation and first-hand accounts, taking in India, Bali, Java, Cambodia, China, Japan, Hawai’i, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Africa, Turkey, Spain, Native America, South America, and the Caribbean. Each chapter covers a certain region’s distinctive dances, pinpoints key issues and trends from the form’s development to its modern iteration, and offers a wealth of study features including: Case Studies – zooming in on key details of a dance form’s cultural, historical, and religious contexts ‘Explorations’ – first-hand descriptions of dances, from scholars, anthropologists and practitioners ‘Think About’ – provocations to encourage critical analysis of dance forms and the ways in which they’re understood Discussion Questions – starting points for group work, classroom seminars or individual study Further Study Tips – listing essential books, essays and video material. Offering a comprehensive overview of each dance form covered with over 100 full color photos, World Dance Cultures is an essential introductory resource for students and instructors alike.
A Sourcebook on African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements (Worlds of Performance)
by Annemarie BeanA Sourcebook on African-American Performance is the first volume to consider African-American performance between and beyond the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and the New Black Renaissance of the 1990s.As with all titles in the Worlds of Performance series, the Sourcebook consists of classic texts as well as newly commissioned pieces by notable scholars, writers and performers. It includes the plays 'Sally's Rape' by Robbie McCauley and 'The American Play' by Suzan-Lori Parks, and comes complete with a substantial, historical introduction by Annemarie Bean.Articles, essays, manifestos and interviews included cover topics such as:* theatre on the professional, revolutionary and college stages* concert dance* community activism * step shows* performance art.Contributors include Annemarie Bean, Ed Bullins, Barbara Lewis, John O'Neal, Glenda Dickersun, James V. Hatch, Warren Budine Jr. and Eugene Nesmith.
A Sourcebook on African-American Performance: Plays, People, Movements (Worlds of Performance)
by Annemarie BeanA Sourcebook on African-American Performance is the first volume to consider African-American performance between and beyond the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and the New Black Renaissance of the 1990s.As with all titles in the Worlds of Performance series, the Sourcebook consists of classic texts as well as newly commissioned pieces by notable scholars, writers and performers. It includes the plays 'Sally's Rape' by Robbie McCauley and 'The American Play' by Suzan-Lori Parks, and comes complete with a substantial, historical introduction by Annemarie Bean.Articles, essays, manifestos and interviews included cover topics such as:* theatre on the professional, revolutionary and college stages* concert dance* community activism * step shows* performance art.Contributors include Annemarie Bean, Ed Bullins, Barbara Lewis, John O'Neal, Glenda Dickersun, James V. Hatch, Warren Budine Jr. and Eugene Nesmith.
71 Coltman Street (Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanI want theatre to be sweaty, exciting, unpredictable….Mike Bradwell is on a mission to revolutionise British theatre. He's sick of fancy plays by dead blokes and wants to tell stories about real people, living real lives. And it doesn't get more real than Hull.In a freezing cold house on Coltman Street, a motley crew of unemployed actors gather to improvise a play with no name, no plot, no budget and no bookings.Richard Bean's (The Hypocrite, One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and irreverent comedy takes us back to the 70s and Hull Truck Theatre's origin story. It is a roaring combination of comedy, cabaret, farce and drama. Join us for a celebration of where it all began…This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in February 2022.
71 Coltman Street (Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanI want theatre to be sweaty, exciting, unpredictable….Mike Bradwell is on a mission to revolutionise British theatre. He's sick of fancy plays by dead blokes and wants to tell stories about real people, living real lives. And it doesn't get more real than Hull.In a freezing cold house on Coltman Street, a motley crew of unemployed actors gather to improvise a play with no name, no plot, no budget and no bookings.Richard Bean's (The Hypocrite, One Man, Two Guvnors) hilarious and irreverent comedy takes us back to the 70s and Hull Truck Theatre's origin story. It is a roaring combination of comedy, cabaret, farce and drama. Join us for a celebration of where it all began…This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Hull Truck Theatre in February 2022.
Bean Plays Four (Oberon Modern Playwrights)
by Richard BeanEngland People Very Nice‘A very funny but outrageous comedy…makes you laugh then wonder whether you should have.’ Financial TimesThe Big Fellah‘Bean’s play is very funny, full of sharp contrasts between grim hilarity and gut-wrenching reversals.’ The Stage(Shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best Theatre Play 2011)The Heretic‘delicious… Above all, though, it is Bean’s writing that scintillates. Pulsing with shrewd humour, it’s risqué and linguistically rich. There are some blissfully surreal touches… The Heretic is clever, imaginative and entertaining theatre.’ Evening StandardWinner of the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Best Play Award.
Bean Plays One: Plays One (Oberon Modern Playwrights)
by Richard Bean‘The Mentalists confirms Richard Bean as a writer of beguiling originality with a gift for both laugh-out-loud dialogue and a sympathetic understanding of the darker recesses of the human heart.’ Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph on The Mentalists‘An instant modern classic.’ Kate Bassett, The Independent on Sunday on Under the Whaleback‘Richard Bean must have had a hell of a life.’ Michael Billington, The Guardian on The God Botherers
The Big Fellah (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanShortlisted for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Best Theatre Play 2011Young New Yorker Michael Doyle decides to live up to his Irish heritage by joining the IRA. He’s recruited by Costello, the charismatic ‘Big Fellah’, who wants to use Doyle’s brownstone apartment in The Bronx as a safe house for an escaped killer. But it soon becomes clear that someone is leaking information to the FBI... Set among Irish Americans in New York, Richard Bean’s dark, glinting, funny play spans three turbulent decades. A boisterous and witty story of loyalty, disillusionment and betrayal.‘This is the funniest play about Irish troublemakers since Bill Morrison’s ‘Flying Blind’... The West End surely beckons.’- Michael Coveney, What's On Theatre‘Bean’s play is very funny, full of sharp contrasts between grim hilarity and gut-wrenching reversals.’ - The Stage‘One moment you’re exploding with mirth at its sly abrasive wit, the next its choking the laughter out of your throat. Directed with thrilling energy and searing precision by Max Stafford-Clark’ CRITICS CHOICE 4 STARS- Time Out
England People Very Nice (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard Bean‘Fucking Frogs! My grandfather didn’t die in the English Civil War so’s half the population of France could come over here and live off the soup!’A riotous journey through four waves of immigration from the 17th century to today. As the French Huguenots, the Irish, the Jews and the Bangladeshis in turn enter the chaotic world of Bethnal Green, each new influx provokes a surge of violent protest over housing, jobs, religion and culture. And the emerging pattern shows that white flight and anxiety over integration is anything but new. Written with scurrilous bravura, Richard Bean’s great sweep of a comedy follows a pair of star-crossed lovers amid cutters’ mobs, Papists, Jewish anarchists and radical Islamists across four tempestuous centuries. England People Very Nice enjoyed a sell-out run at the National Theatre.
The English Game: Harvest In The Club - The English Game - Up On Roof (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanI've wasted the whole of my life playing this game. It's claimed my knees and it occupies every spare synapse in my brain. I'm not even sure I like it anymore...The Nightwatchmen: an amateur London cricket team, making up for in enthusiasm what they lack in ability. As they gather on a sunny Sunday to face Bernard and his ethnically diverse and highly talented squad, Will, Thiz, Clive and their team-mates spend the day smoking, drinking tea and discussing love, politics and the correct interpretation of the LBW law... Richard Bean's comedy toured with Headlong Theatre throughout May 2008.
The God Botherers: The Mentalists - Under The Whaleback - The God Botherers (Modern Playwrights Ser.)
by Richard Bean‘The borders don't make any sense, there's no rule of law, no running water, you never know when the electric's on, the last war's fucked everything, and the next war will fuck everything else.’A dark and deeply funny tale of foreign aid workers in far-flung Tambia... Truly alternative Christmas entertainment, not for the faint hearted or politically correct. The God Botherers was produced by The Bush Theatre in November 2003.
Great Britain (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanRichard Bean’s fast and furious new play is an narchic and foulmouthed satire about the press, the police and the political establishment. Paige Britain is the ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.
Harvest: Harvest (Oberon Modern Plays Ser.)
by Richard BeanOn 14th May 1875 Lord Primrose Agar, drunk as a skunk, wagered one of his tenant farmers, Orlando Harrison, that his border collie pup Jip would outlive the 94 year-old Harrison. The prize would be 82 acres of up and down known as Kilham Wold Farm, near Driffiels in East Yorkshire. Thirteen years later, having buried his dog, Agar shook hands with Orlando and conferred on the Harrisons a century of struggle.
The Heretic (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard Bean‘I'm a scientist. I don't 'believe' in anything.’The study of climate science is the cool degree at the university where Dr Diane Cassell is a lead academic in Earth Sciences. At odds with the orthodoxy over the causes of climate change, she finds herself increasingly vilified and is forced to ask if the issue is becoming political as well as personal. Could the belief in anthropogenic global warming be the most attractive religion of the 21st century. What evidence do we need before deciding on policy?Winner of the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Best New Play Award.'a riotous comedy … by Richard Bean, one of our drama’s most wittily maverick voices…. it keeps the great one-liners whizzing and the scientific arguments airborne.' 4 stars – Independent 'an absolute corker, funny, provocative and touching, and absolutely resolute in its refusal to lapse into the apocalyptic gloom that usually attends this subject... exceptionally generous with the jokes… The Heretic is a play on the side of life and optimism, with a faith in humanity that goes markedly against the grain of current thinking.' 4 stars –Telegraph 'it’s a tsunami of jokes, a meltdown of piety and po-facedness… what’s especially pleasing is the combination of unremitting intelligence with unremitting laughs. The Heretic makes most plays look underwritten.' –Observer 'delicious… Above all, though, it is Bean’s writing that scintillates. Pulsing with shrewd humour, it’s risqué and linguistically rich. There are some blissfully surreal touches… The Heretic is clever, imaginative and entertaining theatre.' 4 stars – Evening Standard
Honeymoon Suite (Absolute Classics Ser.)
by Richard BeanThe wear and tear of marriage; and the result, while full of deadpan humour, leaves you unsure whether Bean's deadlocked duo are the victims of temperamental mismatch or social circumstance. Technically, the play is ingenious. The action takes place in a Bridlington hotel suite and traces the shifting marital fortunes of Eddie and Irene: Bean's Ayckbournian trick, however, is to present the three chosen time-periods simultaneously rather than sequentially.
The Hypochondriac (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Richard BeanMolière's classic farce pokes fun at Argan, a man so obsessed by his own imaginary ailments that he can no longer control his haphazard household or the mercenary medics he employs.With doctors determined to grow fat from the profits of his condition, Argan's closest relatives battle to show him the truth of his situation. Using elaborate trickery, they strive to cure the real disease from which he suffers, managing to pile confusion upon hilarious confusion.This version of The Hypochondriac premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London in 2005.