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Minnie runs a dilapidated, back-street Soho internet cafe, populated by Eastern European immigrants and targeted by the Albanian underworld. Minnie, trusting and innocent, falls for gang leader 'Vik' Johnson, who is intent on stealing from the villains in her cafe, and from her. When the crooks catch up with Vik, he is moments from execution, before Minnie is forced to play a hand of poker for his life.Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (West End Girl) had gorgeous melodies, great passion and humour. Andrew Lloyd-Webber thought so. He was inspired by Fanciulla to create one of the most famous melodies in The Phantom of the Opera. Fanciulla has thrilling scenes and rich characters, and as in [i]La Boheme and Madama Butterfly , Puccini shows us youthful love and burning desire in a joyous evening of drama and delight. This production is directed by Robert Chevara (Artistic Director, English Touring Opera, 1997-2001) in his own new version co-written with Kfir Yefet (recently directed Gillian Anderson in A Doll's House , Donmar Warehouse, 2009). Musical Direction by John Gibbons.‘A heart-warming story and, almost uniquely, a happy ending…The overall experience is marvellously uplifting… The final scene will melt even the stoniest of hearts.’ – The Stage ‘Bold and bizarre as ever… a charming show’ – Evening Standard

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An evocative, heart-warming story of unfulfilled dreams and unrequited love.Based on the hit film screenplay by Charles Dance starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, and on the original short story by William J. Locke, Ladies in Lavender tells the tale of two sisters Ursula and Janet who live in a close-knit fishing village in picturesque Cornwall, in 1936. When a handsome and talented young Polish violinist bound for America is washed ashore, the Widdington sisters take him under their wing and nurse him back to health. However, the presence of the mysterious young man disrupts their peaceful lives and the community in which they live.‘It delivers perfect comic timing and hilarious lines.’ – Northampton Chronicle & Echo

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Keith just wants to say he’s sorry. A lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse has given him a lot to apologise for – particularly to the two people who raised from a child. But as the memories of violence, betrayal, lies and recriminations are raked to the surface, it becomes clear that past actions can have shocking repercussions in the present. Forgiving is easy, forgetting is a different story.‘This could have become far-fetched but Hayes's acidic humour and natural, instinctively paced dialogue stop the play spilling into melodrama. Hayes has a rare talent for creating frighteningly powerful characters who remain spine-tinglingly tangible, despite their extraordinary actions.’ 4 STARS – Time Out ‘…a tense, intimately edgy experience. Step 9 (of 12) , with its numerous soul-gripping revelations, creates a drama that will wrench from its audience deep feelings of empathy, and deeply felt opinions. It's a play that involves you wholly in its central dilemma: how to clench your fist tightly enough to hold firm, but not so tight as to crush? This is thrilling, unrestrained entertainment.’ – onthefringepaper.co.uk ‘ Step 9 (of 12) , a new piece by the Offie-nominated playwright Rob Hayes is the second piece of his I’ve seen… More considered, fluid and conscious than the first yet maintaining his special, dark, comic tone. This is, quite genuinely, fringe theatre at its absolute best, do try and catch this show before it finishes.’ 4 stars– whatsonstage.com

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Howard Barker’s theatre is characterized by its tragic scale and its distinctive way of exposing the unconscious resistances that underlie apparent social unanimity, both in the sexual and political spheres.Barker’s play, BLOK/EKO , is a large-scale drama about death and its status in the world. Eko, an ageing despot, seemingly on a whim liquidates the entire medical profession, asserting that consolation – in the form of song – is a better way with sickness than drugs or surgery. A connoisseur herself, she knows great song is itself the distillation of suffering and so deliberately exposes her greatest poet Tot to a life of crime, poverty and humiliation in order to extract from him his finest work. BLOK/EKO is the first outcome of Barker’s residence as Creative Fellow at the University of Exeter (2010-2012) and the main element of his Plethora/Bare Sufficiency project.

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Includes the plays Judith , (Uncle) Vanya , A House of Correction , Let Me and Lot and His God Barker’s radical rewriting of Chekhov’s classic (Uncle) Vanya brought him more controversy than most of his other works put together. Interrogating not so much Chekhov’s text as the use to which society has put it, Barker turns Vanya’s defeat into victory and converts a play of sadness into a tragedy of desire. A House of Correction is a meditation on cause and effect. Set on the eve of a war which may destroy a society, the seemingly arbitrary arrival of a messenger with a vital communication sets off an agonizing train of events in the lives of three desperate women.Few works of drama can have plumbed the depths of solitude and rage that characterize Let Me , a nightmare set on the frontiers of the Roman Empire during the barbarian invasions. Biblical narratives serve as the origin of two shorter works, of which Judith is a contemporary classic of cultural conflict, a reinterpretation of the status of the heroine in Israel’s war of survival against the Assyrians. In Lot and His God , the imminent destruction of Sodom simultaneously licenses the moral decay of an angel and the erotic epiphany of an adored wife.

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Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small-time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at The Cricketers Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be reunited with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple. Winner of the Outer Critics Circle award for Best Play.‘splendidly silly… One Man is, like Mr. Corden’s grin, both satanic and seraphic, dirty-minded and utterly innocent…. ideal escapism for anxious times.’ – New York Times ‘deliriously funny’ – Washington Post ‘gobsmackingly funny… this virtuoso banquet of slapstick farce and verbal jousting brings with it a shocking revelation: How starved we were for comedy.’ – Time Out New York

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Following in the footsteps of Nick Asbury's bestselling Exit Pursued by a Badger , actor and Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus Keith Osborn tells the story of the company's extraordinary 2008/9 season in Stratford and London, with much drama on and off stage.Keith appeared in Gregory Doran's acclaimed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour’s Lost and, of course, Doran's Hamlet with David Tennant in the title role. Keith's blog was followed by thousands of loyal readers, the book contains some new material covering the early parts of the season and a short account of the BBC's filming of Hamlet in the summer of 2009, rounded out with many rehearsal and production photos taken throughout the season.

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Drawing is perhaps the most immediate medium through which an idea can be articulated. Illustration takes drawing into the narrative realm. The illustrations that we see as children stay with us forever; they play a seminal role in the development of our imagination. On Illustration argues that this unassuming artistic discipline can enrich a person’s experience of cultural life provided the illustrator’s talent is matched by the courage and intelligence of the client. The book is an insight into Andrzej Klimowski’s practice, and will help define the role and status of the illustrator in today’s creative industries.‘Recommended reading’ – Association of Illustrators

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This collection of short plays is a passionate response to the effect of Clause 28 on the artistic and social language of a generation. The plays dance between intimate details and the big, historical picture, telling the story of a love affair from three different angles. Each piece is formally inventive & draws on a rich history of gay and queer theatre practice, whilst innovatively pushing the form forward.This collection includes: So Little of You Left – This begins as a traditional poetry reading and rapidly disintegrates into physical theatre, combining poetry, children’s games, physical risk & bold imagery to tell the story of a love affair from start to finish. So Little details the marks that love leaves on our bodies. His Spread Legs – One year later. Tom, alone in his flat in the early hours, begins to speak. A haunting and heartbreaking monologue, inspired by the biblical Song of Songs, excavating the relationship between love, language and identity. The Actor Has Told of His Pain – In this final instalment, the two lovers from So Little meet again and a third character – another ex – helps to give shape to the stories they have been telling each other. A three-act play with a queer twist, about the act of leaving and being left, and coming to terms with the end of the world.

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I provided him with things money can’t buy. And now he’s left me the most priceless gift of all. His most precious possessions.Two orphaned twins are forced out of the rural wilderness they know and into a bleak, brutal London that they don’t. Seeking refuge in a dank pub basement, they begin to plan their escape, only to find themselves locked in a nightmarish battle with a grieving stranger over their dead father’s sordid legacy. Shot through with pitch-black humour, A Butcher of Distinction offers a journey into the unique imagination of award-winning young playwright Rob Hayes.‘Fiercely funny’ – Time Out ‘Hayes evokes Renaissance writers like Middleton and Ford in the more gruesome touches… it is brilliant’ – The Public Reviews ‘A disturbing, yet brilliant example of new writing in London’ – Fringe Review ‘There are so many compelling themes in this strange, disturbing new play… This is edgy, bracing work which demands attention.’ – Extra! Extra! ‘A beautifully complex, layered and twisted comedy’ – The Good Review

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