A thrilling play based on the nineteenth-century Red Barn Murder in Suffolk, rediscovering the lost story of the murder victim, Maria Marten.

'They did not understand, you see, that what is stitched with a needle is not always innocent... Needles are dangerous.' The year is 1569, and in a cold, stone room in a Staffordshire castle, a group of women sew elaborate tapestries. Rich or poor, at home or held against their will, four women's lives intersect on the point of a needle. Embroidery is their escape, their sanity, and their expression: of love, loss, artistry and power. For these women's stitches have the power to change not just their own lives, but the course of English history. Inspired by the tapestries created when Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, The Glove Thief by Beth Flintoff is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books. Aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre, Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.

Mary Zimmerman’s The Secret in the Wings adapts a group of lesser-known fairy tales to create a theatrical work that sets their dark mystery against her signature wit and humor. The framing story concerns a child and the frightening babysitter with whom her parents leave her. As the babysitter reads from a book, the characters in each of the tales materialize, with each tale breaking off just at its bleakest moment before giving way to the next one. The central tale is told without interruption, after which each previous tale is successively resumed, with each looming disaster averted. As in Zimmerman’s other productions, here she uses costumes, props, sets, and lighting to brilliant effect, creating images and feelings that render the fairy tales in all their elemental and enduring power.

Murder—a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy. And a very strange obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves?Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, prose and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism. At a point during the birth of the modern era, murder entered the popular psyche, and it’s been a part of us ever since.The Art of the English Murder is a unique exploration of the art of crime—and a riveting investigation into the English criminal soul by one of our finest historians.

A vigilante single mom on the run is determined to give her two kids--a pregnant teenage daughter and excitable preteen son--a last supper before the cops separate them.

'When that bell rings, your life is entirely in your hands.' London, 1869. Four very different Victorian women are drawn into the dark underground world of female boxing by the eccentric Professor Sharp. Controlled by men and constrained by corsets, each finds an unexpected freedom in the boxing ring. As their lives begin to intertwine, their journey takes us through grand drawing rooms, bustling theatres and rowdy Southwark pubs, where the women fight inequality as well as each other. But with the final showdown approaching, only one can become the Lady Boxing Champion of the World... Joy Wilkinson's play The Sweet Science of Bruising is an epic tale of passion, politics and pugilism. It premiered at Southwark Playhouse, London, in October 2018, in a production by Troupe.

A stage adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. Bathsheba Everdene, a young, spirited farm-owner, is beloved of three men: Gabriel Oak, a stoical shepherd, William Boldwood, a neighbouring farmer, and the dashing but irresponsible Captain Troy.