The Donmar Warehouse's production of Knives in Hens ran from 17 August to 7
October 2017. It featured the following cast and creative team: Young Woman
Judith Roddy Pony William Christian Cooke Gilbert Horn Matt Ryan Director Yaël
 ...

Author: David Harrower

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781350059658

Category: Performing Arts

Page: 48

View: 747

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'I have no name for the thing which is in my head. It is not envy. It is more than envy. It does not scare me. I must look close enough to look at what it is.' A ploughman and his wife live a simple existence in a pre-industrial time until they, along with the hated local miller, are drawn into a struggle of knowledge, power and attraction. David Harrower's haunting play established him as one of the UK's leading contemporary playwrights. This new edition is published to coincide with the new production of this tense modern classic at the Donmar Warehouse in August 2017, directed by Yaël Farber.

Born in 1966 in Edinburgh, Harrower's career started with the Traverse Theatre's
production of Knives in Hens in 1995. The play captured the imaginations of
audiences, directors and critics around the world, and has become, according to
the ...

Author: Martin Middeke

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781408159675

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 544

View: 277

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The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights who have risen to prominence since the 1980s. Written by an international team of scholars, it will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary drama. Among the many playwrights whose work is examined are Sarah Daniels, Terry Johnson, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Tanika Gupta and Richard Bean. Each essay features: A biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright A discussion of their most important plays An analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of British theatre A bibliography of texts and critical material

For the Traverse: THE CHIC NERDS, GRETA, LAZYBED, KNIVES IN HENS,
PASSING PLACES, BONDAGERS, ROAD TO NIRVANA, SHARP SHORTS,
MARISOL, GRACE IN AMERICA, BROTHERS OF THUNDER. Other theatre work
 ...

Author: David Harrower

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781472537133

Category: Drama

Page: 88

View: 186

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Kill the Old Torture their Young is an urban tragi-comedy from the acclaimed writer of Knives in Hens, one of Scotland's most talented new playwrights A documentary maker returns to the city of his birth. His task, to film his impressions. An old man remembers a time when eagles flew over the city. A TV executive reaches breaking point in the city he loves. A struggle actor seeks fame in a city that doesn't seem to want him. A young woman ends her artistic dreams in a city that eludes her. A receptionist tries to break the mould of her life in the city where she's always lived. A rock star sings to himself in a city he's forgotten the name of...Each of them has a story to tell, but who will listen?

The news that a government inspector is due to arrive in a small Russian town sends its bureaucrats into a panicked frenzy.

Author: David Harrower

Publisher:

ISBN: 0571280498

Category: Russia

Page: 114

View: 291

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The news that a government inspector is due to arrive in a small Russian town sends its bureaucrats into a panicked frenzy. A simple case of mistaken identity exposes the hypocrisy and corruption at the heart of the town in this biting moral satire. David Harrower's version of Nikolai Gogol's Government Inspector premiered at the Warwick Arts Centre in May 2011 and transferred to Young Vic, London in June.

... and The Master Builder (1892), while the imminence of mortality overshadows
his last great plays, John Gabriel Borkman (1896) and When We Dead Awaken (
1899). About David Harrower David Harrower's plays include Knives in Hens, ...

Author: Henrik Ibsen

Publisher: Faber & Faber

ISBN: 9780571308248

Category: Drama

Page: 96

View: 332

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When Dr. Stockmann discovers that the waters of a new public spa are toxic, he expects gratitude and glory. Instead, his revelation makes him the most hated man in town. Henrik Ibsen's timeless story of corruption, pollution and courage opened in David Harrower's powerful new version at the Young Vic, London, in May 2013.

... Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Knives in Hens, Thyestes and Torn (Arcola);
Billy Wonderful (Liverpool Everyman); Nocturnaland Big Love (The Gate); Proper
Clever(Liverpool Playhouse); Breakfast with Mugabe (Theatre Royal Bath); ...

Author: Sam Burns

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781472588999

Category: Drama

Page: 96

View: 307

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I ain't got a city named for me . . . The swans have though, haven't they. They got a city named for them. Seventeen-year-old Emma dreams of travelling adventures beyond her Swansea home. Rhys, her boyfriend, has other plans for them. Facing the consequences of their actions under the disapproving eye of Emma's mother, they struggle to find a happy medium. Now, camped out on Swansea seafront, they must confront the difficult question of what it takes to leave the place that shaped them. A story about what happens when life gets in the way of your dreams. Sam Burns weaves together a touching, sensitive play that tackles our conflicting emotions about the place we call home. Not The Worst Place received its world premiere at Clywd Theatr Cymru on 23 April 2014 in a production by Paines Plough.

... Madness in Valencia (Trafalgar Studios),The Madness ofGeorge III, Kalagora
and Macbeth (national tours), Othello (Rose Theatre), Knives in Hens (Battersea
Arts Centre), Personal Enemy (White BearTheatre and New York), Accolade, ...

Author: Tash Fairbanks

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781472523433

Category: Drama

Page: 80

View: 914

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'Dis is a war zone, ya get me? An' we gotta take 'em all out, see?' Fog is about two families: one white and dysfunctional, the other black and aspiring. Fog and Lou were put into care as young children by their soldier father, Cannon, following the untimely death of their mother. Ten years later, Cannon returns, expecting to reassemble his family around him. But he feels a stranger in this 'new' England of broken promises. And nothing could prepare him for the damage that abandonment and an inadequate care system has wreaked on his kids. He desperately tries to repair what has been broken, but is it all too little too late? Fog is a stunningly powerful and gritty play which confronts important social themes with a clear-eyed lack of sentimentality. The play looks at the care system and the effects on the children placed there. It explores the difficulties we face in trying to reconnect with people who have been absent throughout childhood, and the inadequacy of communication: words are used as loose sticking plasters to try and patch up and hide the exposed wounds of fractured relationships.

Further directing credits include: Benefactors as part of the Michael Frayn season
at Sheffield Crucible, Knives and Hens at the Ustinov Bath Theatre Royal, The
Confederate for the Trafalgar Studios, Men Should Weep for Oxford Stage ...

Author: Serge Cartwright

Publisher: Oberon Books

ISBN: 9781849436885

Category: Drama

Page: 96

View: 486

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Playing the Games is a duo of plays focussing on the London 2012 Olympics, it includes: Taking Part by Adam Brace Lucky Henry, a Congolese security guard, has set his sights on representing his country at the 2012 Olympics. Only one problem; he’s a terrible swimmer and his Russian coach wants to fly home on the first day of training. Everyone loves an underdog – think Eddie the Eagle or Eric the Eel. Follow Henry’s journey from deep end straggler to Olympic hopeful as the two men try to fulfil their dreams at the London games. After The Party by Serge Cartwright Sean and Ray are best friends from Stratford. Once a promising DJ double act, now they’re stuck in a rut: 30ish, unemployed but still clinging to a fantasy of making it in the music industry. With a baby on the way and the world about to arrive on their doorstep for London 2012, it could be the perfect opportunity for them to make something of their lives...

... and Cloud Nine (Sahne Kadir Has Istanbul); Curse of the Starving Class (
Eskisehir Municipal Theatre); Black Comedy (Kocaeli Municipal Theatre); Firtina/
Tempest (Istanbul International Theatre Festival) and Knives in Hens, A Family
Affair, ...

Author: Jeff Young

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781474228824

Category: Drama

Page: 112

View: 951

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I am flying. I swoop over the rooftops of Liverpool, over the waterfront and out to sea, following a trawler as it drags its nets through the wild sea. I am a sixteen-year-old bird boy, addicted to seagull blood, flying through sea-storms, up to the moon . . . On the run from tragedy, Lucas escaped Liverpool - then a city cast aside, a city crumbling. Now he's back, the old gang don't rush to welcome him home and ghosts haunt the ruins of their childhood playgrounds. The city chases renaissance: could his love affair with childhood sweetheart Lizzie blossom again too? Bright Phoenix is a wild, dream-like play about the carnival of the city at night; about a gang of rebel kids who still don't quite fit in as grown-ups; and about their love for a dying cinema and their mad plan to bring it back to life like a phoenix. Featuring live music, Jeff Young's epic and poetic play reveals the magic of forgotten places and dreaming beneath the stars. The play received its world premiere at the Liverpool Everyman on 3 October 2014.

... Hedda and Breathing Irregular (Gate Theatre), Madness In Valencia (Trafalgar
Studios), The Madness Of George III and Macbeth (National Tours), Othello (
Rose Theatre, Bankside), Knives In Hens (BAC) and Personal Enemy (White
Bear ...

Author: Ruth Sherlock

Publisher: Oberon Books

ISBN: 9781849435437

Category: Drama

Page: 88

View: 156

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As thousands have been tortured, jailed, maimed or killed by the Syrian regime, The Fear of Breathing is not only a new play based entirely on verbatim reports from inside Syria itself, but is also a hard-hitting evocation of a life or death fight for freedom, experienced from the inside. To uncover these personal stories from the uprising, award-winning journalists Paul Wood and Ruth Sherlock, together with theatre director Zoe Lafferty, travelled into Syria covertly, circumventing the ban on journalists and restrictions on movement for all non-Syrians. They spoke to protesters as well as citizens who love President Bashar al-Assad and are terrified of a future without him.Featuring verbatim scenes, interviews, stories and film footage, The Fear of Breathing is a powerful and profoundly disturbing portrait of a revolution struggling to survive.

... Arabian Nights (Tricycle), Mass Observation (Almeida), Brimstone and Treacle
and Knives in Hens (Arcola), Twelve Years (BBC Radio 4), Gambling (Soho
Theatre), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC), Quimeras (
Sadler's ...

Author: Caroline Horton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781474245517

Category: Performing Arts

Page: 80

View: 637

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This is my world, I am the king, I make the rules and everyone else can go to hell. This is off-shore. Oxfam estimate that there is $18.5 trillion siphoned out of the world economy into tax havens by wealthy individuals alone. Christian Aid has calculated that 1,000 children die every day as a result of tax evasion. This is not just a political or social challenge: this is a matter of human rights. Islands is an illuminating, absurd and powerful new show about tax havens, little empires, enormous greed, and the few who have it all. Hilarious and unnerving, this ink-black comedy with music plunges you into a monstrous, secretive world where it really seems that no-one has to pay.... for anything. Head off-shore and frolic with those who have it all worked out as they feed their addiction to wealth, power and material stuff. The play received its world premiere at the Bush Theatre, London, on 15 January 2015.

... Solemn Mass For a Full Moon in Summer (as co-director) King of the Fields,
Highland Shorts, Family, Kill the Old Torture Their Young, Chic Nerds, Greta,
Lazybed, Knives in Hens, Passing Places, Bondagers, Road to Nirvana, Sharp
Shorts, ...

Author: Selma Dimitrijević

Publisher: Nick Hern Books

ISBN: 9781854595867

Category: Drama

Page: 80

View: 803

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Edinburgh Festival premiere at Traverse Theatre of mesmeric new play by brand new Scottish-Croatian writer.

Heartbeat, Biue Murder. Failing, Ba ttiafieid Britain, Hawl<i'ng, The Deputy and
Dalziel and Pascoe. Jllllilt lilttllllifl Melanie Theatre credits include: Knives in Hens
and Jertuta [Aroola Theatrel; When We Are Married lWest Yorkshire Playhouse!

Author: Jonathan Harvey

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781408131046

Category: Drama

Page: 128

View: 263

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Canary is multi-award winning playwright Jonathan Harvey's long-awaited return to the stage: a deeply moving, funny, unflinching, and often magical story about love, honesty and being brave enough to sing out at the top of your voice - with style. In 1960s Liverpool two lovers hide their homosexuality in the closet, then go their separate ways. While pits close and dole queues grow, a couple of runaways find Heaven in 1980s London. And today the paparazzi chase a love story that could tear a family apart. Then a grieving mother gets lost up a mountain, with a vicar for some dubious consolation. With a unique richness of texture and range, Canary combines pathos and humour with a wildly ambitious scope crossing decades through cyclical family histories. The diverse character list includes a primetime TV host, Queen Isabella, Eleanor Rigby, an 'aversion therary' doctor, Mary Whitehouse and striking miners. Skilfully pulling these wide-ranging threads together, Canary provides a social overview of Britain during the last 50 years, with a focus on the struggle against homophobia. Jonathan Harvey's trademark style of warmth, poignancy, humour and imagination is obvious in this epic, Liverpudlian Angels in America for the 21st century.

In England, there are examples of a new acceptance of Scots as capable of high
seriousness in such plays as David Harrower's Knives in Hens (1995). However,
the longer established trend has been in the expansion of Scots in the domain ...

Author: Edgar Werner Schneider

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

ISBN: 9789027248763

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 335

View: 981

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The two volumes of Englishes around the World present high-quality original research papers written in honour of Manfred Görlach, founder and editor of the journal English World-Wide and the book series Varieties of English Around the World. The papers thematically focus on the field that Manfred Görlach has helped to build and shape. Volume 1 contains articles on general topics and studies of what might be termed “Old” Englishes, varieties of English that have been rooted in their respective regions for a long time and have been traditional focal points of scholarly study. The first section contains eight general and comparative papers (dealing with terminological matters or definitions of core concepts, historical issues, structural comparisons across a wide range of varieties); the second one has nine papers on dialects of English as used in the British Isles (covering England, Scotland, Ulster and Ireland); and finally, there are four contributions on North American varieties of English (including Southern English, African American Vernacular English, Newfoundland Vernacular English, and American English in a historical perspective). The thematic scope comprises the levels of lexis, phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, and orthography, as well as sociohistorical issues, the question of the evolution and transmission of dialects, various sources of evidence including literary dialect.

... Knives in Hens, Thyestes and Tom (Arcola Theatre); Be My Baby (Derby Live);
Nocturnal and Big Love (Gate Theatre); nabokov's Bunny and Terre Haute; Billy
Wonderful (Liverpool Everyman); The Snow Queen (West Yorkshire Playhouse);
 ...

Author: Phil Porter

Publisher: Oberon Books

ISBN: 9781849435567

Category: Drama

Page: 64

View: 838

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This is the tale of Jonah, Sophie, and a fox called Scruffilitis. It's a love story. A dysfunctional, voyeuristic and darkly funny love story, but a love story all the same. This new play by the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize winner Phil Porter, is an exciting collaboration between Soho Theatre - London's most vibrant venue for new writing, comedy and cabaret - and internationally acclaimed Fringe First winners nabokov.

... Meetings (The Arcola); Hedda and Breathing lrregular(The Gate, Notting Hill);
Madness In Valencia (Trafalgar Studios); The Madness OfGeorge III and Macbeth
(National Tours); Othello (Rose Theatre, Bankside); Knives In Hens (Battersea ...

Author: Amir Nizar Zuabi

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781408173176

Category: Drama

Page: 72

View: 113

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When Abraham returns home from a journey with his son, his wife is troubled by the boy's state of mind. What took place on the mountain that day is the beginning of a lifetime of suffering for his son and the dawn of a new age for millions. A haunting and heartbreaking twist on the story of Abraham and Isaac, which reminds us that this historic tale of sacrifice began with just one family. The Beloved follows writer Amir Nizar Zuabi's previous successes with I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother and In the Penal Colony. The publication coincided with a co- production by Palestinian theatre company ShiberHur with the Bush Theatre and KVS Brussels.

From the urban cityscapes of Hannan's The Evil Doers (1990) and Shining Souls
(1996), to the isolated rural settings of Harrower's Knives in Hens (1995) and
Dark Earth (2003), to the coastal peripheries of Sharman MacDonald's (b.

Author: Nadine Holdsworth

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

ISBN: 9781118739075

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 304

View: 275

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Focusing on major and emerging playwrights, institutions, and various theatre practices this Concise Companion examines the key issues in British and Irish theatre since 1979. Written by leading international scholars in the field, this collection offers new ways of thinking about the social, political, and cultural contexts within which specific aspects of British and Irish theatre have emerged and explores the relationship between these contexts and the works produced. It investigates why particular issues and practices have emerged as significant in the theatre of this period.

... Tempest (Contact); Jane Eyre, Desire Under the Elms (Shared Experience);
Troilus and Cressida (Opera North); Oedipus Rex (Connecticut State Opera); The
Marriage of Figaro (Garsington Opera); Knives in Hens, The Birthday Party (Tag).

Author: Tim Price

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781472526885

Category: Drama

Page: 80

View: 557

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An Englishman, a Northern Irishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman walked into a recording studio and created The Union. Commercially successful and critically acclaimed, the pioneering indie rock band is now on the verge of breaking up. When financial disaster strikes and Scottish guitarist Barry leaves the band, artistic differences go head to head with alliances that run deep, can The Union survive? With live music from a four-piece ensemble, I'm With the Band is a witty and timely response to our changing political landscape.

In England, there are examples of a new acceptance of Scots as capable of high
seriousness in such plays as David Harrower's Knives in Hens (1995). However,
the longer established trend has been in the expansion of Scots in the domain ...

Author: Edgar W. Schneider

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

ISBN: 9789027275776

Category: Language Arts & Disciplines

Page: 329

View: 587

Download »

The two volumes of Englishes around the World present high-quality original research papers written in honour of Manfred Görlach, founder and editor of the journal English World-Wide and the book series Varieties of English Around the World. The papers thematically focus on the field that Manfred Görlach has helped to build and shape. Volume 1 contains articles on general topics and studies of what might be termed “Old” Englishes, varieties of English that have been rooted in their respective regions for a long time and have been traditional focal points of scholarly study. The first section contains eight general and comparative papers (dealing with terminological matters or definitions of core concepts, historical issues, structural comparisons across a wide range of varieties); the second one has nine papers on dialects of English as used in the British Isles (covering England, Scotland, Ulster and Ireland); and finally, there are four contributions on North American varieties of English (including Southern English, African American Vernacular English, Newfoundland Vernacular English, and American English in a historical perspective). The thematic scope comprises the levels of lexis, phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, and orthography, as well as sociohistorical issues, the question of the evolution and transmission of dialects, various sources of evidence including literary dialect.

Other productions include Green Field, Gagarin Way, King of the Fields, The
Speculator, Perfect Days, Anna Weiss, Knives in Hens and The Architect (
Traverse), South Pacific and King Lear (The Crucible), Pygmalion (Nottingham
Playhouse), ...

Author: Anthony Neilson

Publisher: A&C Black

ISBN: 9781472536488

Category: Drama

Page: 80

View: 664

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We will fix it. We will mend it... In the light of a pregnancy, a faithless couple pick apart their relationship, stitch by painful stitch. Can it be mended? Anthony Neilson's dark and intimate new play is a love story set at the extremes of brutality, banality and tenderness. Stitching opened at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on 2 August 2002 and transferred to the Bush Theatre, London, on 12 September 2002."Explodes with power, discipline, integrity and sheer cruel psychological accuracy ... Neilson's writing has a terrible beauty" Sunday Times "Startlingly rich and challenging, Neilson depicts with aching precision a relationship in which love is undermined by distrust" Time Out "Shattering, shocking...a serious, persuasive account of the blind alleys love can lead us down" Daily Telegraph "A characteristically brave and brutal offering" Independent "A deeply mesmerising, if shocking, experience as a couple smashes through taboo after taboo in a harrowing sexual tug of war" Evening Standard