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Contains original illustrations by Jean Cocteau and Andrzej Klimowski.Two of the seven monologues by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) in this edition were written for Édith Piaf. The other five were written for Cocteau’s friend, the celebrated actor Jean Marais, to perform on radio. Although perhaps a minor part of Cocteau’s output of films, plays, poems and ballet scenarios, these exquisite miniatures remain a fascinating form of his dramatic expression.Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) is best known for his enduring farces, such as A Flea In Her Ear, yet he wrote over 20 monologues for actors to perform at charity concerts and in fashionable drawing rooms. The six included in this volume were written over a period of 16 years from 1882.Peter Meyer’s translations of eleven of these monologues were commissioned by the BBC and performed on radio by leading actors including Eileen Atkins, Jill Bennett, Richard Briers, Judi Dench, Alec McCowan and Timothy West. The Liar and I Lost Her have been newly translated for this volume.

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Tom Jones was Henry Fielding’s greatest work. The first piece of English prose to be considered a novel, Samuel Taylor Coleridge praised it as ‘one of the most perfect plots ever planned’. A hero, a heroine, dead parents, adversity, misadventure, mistakes and then resolution, happy ever after. A story told throughout the ages, part of our collective unconscious. Uproarious and unconventional, Tom Jones was adapted by John Osborne for the 1963 Oscar-winning film. Directed by Tony Richardson and starring Albert Finney, it won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The novel has been used as a basis for opera and television adaptations as well as Osborne’s much-loved screenplay. Re-published in this new edition, Tom Jones is eminently suitable for stage productions.

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Following their acclaimed shows On Ego, On Religion, On Emotion and On Love the On Theatre now tackle empathy, in an exploration of the expanse and limits of our capacity to understand one another.Bea is lively, naughty and full of life. When she asks something of her mother that no parent would want to be asked, and of her only friend ‘Not Gay Ray’, they are both forced to challenge the boundaries of their own compassion.

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The Wish Collector by Oladipo Agbolauje: A magical epic whirling from a playground in Britain to a village in Sierra LeoneThe Acme Thunderer by Lin Coghlan: A funny, moving family drama of pigeons and siblings, set amid the Blitz.Of the Terrifying Events on the Hamelin Estate by Philip Osment: A high-spirited contemporary satire bringing the Pied Piper legend up-to-date.Three 30 minute plays by leading playwrights for children to act, commissioned by the Unicorn, one of the world’s foremost companies creating theatre with young people. Premiered as end of year performances by primary classes, the scripts are ideal school productions or for younger youth theatre groups. They are designed to be directed by teachers or youth leaders with no previous drama training. The book includes advice and ideas to support preparation, rehearsal and production.

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‘And besides, nothing ever happens here. Nothing. Niks.’Outside a South African town a silent woman, Ruth, goes through her self-imposed rituals, a child’s crib strapped to her back. An observer, Simon, who has loved Ruth since childhood, tells her story. Tshepang was inspired by the horrifying rape in 2001 of a nine month-old child. The child, Tshepang, gave her name to Lara Foot Newton’s award-winning play, though it is also ‘based on twenty thousand true stories’ – the number of child rapes estimated to occur in South Africa each year. Having premiered in Amsterdam in June 2003, Tshepang opened at the Gate Theatre, London, in September 2004.Winner of the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New South African Play 2003

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The Wedding is a Polish classic, continually in production in Poland since Stanislaw Wyspianski wrote it nearly a hundred years ago. A witty but ultimately tragic satire about Polish society, this remarkable play is set around the celebrations of a wedding between a poet from the city of Krakov and a peasant girl from a rural village.

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The Games spell eviction for the Romany Gypsies. 17 year-old Pearl Penfold is one of them. As the bulldozers close in, Pearl falls in love with Joe, a boy from the local estate. Can Joe prove himself to Pearl and her family before they are gone forever?

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‘You swore that you’d love me for ever’Frank doesn’t recognise the woman at the door. She’s come to remind him of a promise he made twenty years before. A darkly humorous study of modern relationships and the things we say that may come back to haunt us. The Woman Before opened at the Royal Court Theatre in May 2005.

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Looking for relief from boredom and a chance to get off the wing, seven young fathers in prison sign-up for an education programme. They try to use the workshops to settle scores and to rise up the prison pecking order. But they're confronted with more than they'd bargained for, as they face up to their relationships with their children and their own fathers. Self-deceptions, vulnerabilities, and failed hopes and dreams are revealed, unleashing anger and violence that the workshop leaders struggle to contain. Researched in Rochester Prison with a young fathers group, the pilot project was devised at the National Youth Theatre in 2008 and was presented as Fathers Inside at Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute and at the Soho Theatre to critical acclaim.

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I don't know who he is but he's old, he's got to know stuff… he's got to be like wise and stuff yeah?Anton Chekhov, masterful playwright and mirror to Russian society, awakening from one hundred years of sleep, is thrust rudely into twenty first century Britain. Reality shows, fashionistas, Z-list celebrities, illegal immigrants, chuggers and wags. Pole dancing, YouTube, Twitter and 5-a-day. Chekhov in Hell takes you on a whirlwind tour of modern day Britain.