This brilliant new collection of ten plays for young people will prove indispensable to schools, colleges and youth theatre groups. Specially commissioned by the National Theatre for the Connections Festival 2012 involving 200 schools and youth theatre groups across the UK and Ireland, each play is accompanied by production notes and exercises. Power struggles, rites of passage, love and forbidden relationships are some of the rich themes that run through the 2012 cycle of plays. Some are deeply funny, some are provocative and some reflective; and one has really catchy songs! For the 2012 Festival, the anthology has an international feel and offers a window on the world. It includes from Australia a play based on a nineteenth century court case in which a teenage girl was falsely convicted; from Brazil a drama about young lovers doomed to tragedy; set in Russia, a play exploring differing attitudes to National Service and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; a drama about students' rights to an education and the Cultural Revolution of 1966 in China; and a comedy involving a group of Irish country girls travelling to London to audition for the X-Factor.

Drawing together the work of 12 leading playwrights, this National Theatre Connections anthology celebrates highlights from 21 years of the Connections festival with a retrospective selection of plays. Featuring work by some of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th and 21st centuries, and together in one volume, the anthology offers young performers between the ages of 13 and 19 an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play has been specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department over the years, with the young performer in mind. In 2016, these plays were then performed by approximately 500 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional partner regional theatres at which the works were showcased. The anthology contains all 12 of the play scripts; notes from the writer and director of each play, addressing the themes and ideas behind the play; and production notes and exercises for the drama groups. This year's anniversary anthology includes plays by Snoo Wilson, Gary Kemp and Guy Pratt; Simon Armitage; Jackie Kay; Patrick Marber; Mark Ravenhill; Bryony Lavery & Frantic Assembly; Davey Anderson; James Graham; Katori Hall; Carl Grose; Stacey Gregg; and Lucinda Coxon.

National Theatre Connections is an annual festival which brings new plays for young people to schools and youth theatres across the UK and Ireland. Commissioning exciting work from leading playwrights, the festival exposes actors aged 13-19 to the world of professional theatre-making, giving them full control of a theatrical production - from costume and set design to stage management and marketing campaigns. NT Connections have published over 150 original plays and regularly works with 500 theatre companies and 10,000 young people each year. This anthology brings together 9 new plays by some of the UK's most prolific and current writers and artists alongside notes on each of the texts exploring performance for schools and youth groups. Wind / Rush Generation(s) by Mojisola Adebayo Tuesday by Alison Carr A series of public apologies (in response to an unfortunate incident in the school lavatories) by John Donnelly THE IT by Vivienne Franzmann The Marxist in Heaven by Hattie Naylor Look Up by Andrew Muir Crusaders by Frances Poet Witches Can't Be Burned by Silva Semerciyan Dungeness by Chris Thompson .

In a "first ring" suburb outside a midsize American city, Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who've moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control, shattering the fragile hold that newly unemployed Ben and burgeoning alcoholic Mary have on their way of life—with unexpected comic consequences. Detroit is a fresh, offbeat look at what happens when we dare to open ourselves up to something new. After premiering at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre last year to rave reviews, Lisa D'Amour's brilliant and timely play moves to Broadway this fall.

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 fiancee'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 one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple. Based on Carlo Goldoni's classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters, in this new English version by prize winning playwright Richard Bean, sex, food and money are high on the agenda.

A remarkable writer – an original fresh voice, with a sharp political edge (Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director the Royal Court Theatre). British writer Rory Mullarkey is the winner of the Harold Pinter Commission, the James Tait Black Prize for Drama and the George Devine Award for most promising playwright. His original work has been staged at the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. His first play collection brings together three previously published plays with two unpublished works. A writer of “considerable talent” (Telegraph), this is a powerful and diverse collection from an established contemporary voice. Single Sex: “a truly disturbing and twisted tale of obsession” (Culture Bean) Tourism: A compelling and humorous take on modern cultural identities. Cannibals: “Brilliantly exciting drama” (Independent) Wolf From the Door: “Fervent and bracingly original...laced with exuberant absurdity and moments of twisted humour...” (Evening Standard) Each Slow Dusk: 'A great war play, original and richly reflective in form . . . [It] encapsulates the British soldier's experience in under an hour . . . Remarkable.' ReviewsGate

Covering Green's The Fault in Our Stars, Collins' The Hunger Games, Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Rowling's Wizarding World, Staake's Bluebird and Winton's Lockie Leonard, contributors consider how literature can be used for teaching literary literacy, creative writing, intercultural learning, critical pedagogy and deep reading in school settings where English is the teaching medium. Leading scholars from around the world explore pedagogical principles for English Language Teaching (ELT) widening children's and teenagers' literacy competences as well as their horizons through insightful engagement with texts. From challenging picturebooks for primary and secondary students, to graphic novels, to story apps, film and drama, as well as speculative fiction on provocative topics, recent research on literature education in ELT settings combines with cognitive criticism in the field of children's, young adult and adult literature.