Set amongst the vibrant, intense cacophony of North West London, NW Trilogy is a collection of three vivid stories, told over one performance, that remember and celebrate people who changed the course of history. The personal is political in these soulful explorations of what it means to be part of one of the most dynamic communities in the world. First, we reel to a dance hall in 'County Kilburn' in Moira Buffini's Dance Floor where the Guinness flows, the music never stops and for homesick Aoife, there's far more at stake than a dance. In Roy Williams' bittersweet Life of Riley, Paulette is on a journey to connect with her estranged father Riley, a reggae musician once part of the influential Trojan Records scene, who can't seem to let go of the past. And, Suhayla El-Bushra's Waking/Walking introduces us to Anjali, a wife, mother and newly arrived migrant following Idi Amin's expulsion of the Asian minority from Uganda, who is torn between not making a fuss and seizing her moment to take a stand as the Grunwick dispute unfolds. NW Trilogy is powerful, funny and epic and shows us how we can change the world from our doorstep. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere as NW Trilogy at Kiln Theatre, London, in August 2021.

Set amongst the vibrant, intense cacophony of North West London, NW Trilogy is a collection of three vivid stories, told over one performance, that remember and celebrate people who changed the course of history. The personal is political in these soulful explorations of what it means to be part of one of the most dynamic communities in the world. First, we reel to a dance hall in 'County Kilburn' in Moira Buffini's Dance Floor where the Guinness flows, the music never stops and for homesick Aoife, there's far more at stake than a dance. In Roy Williams' bittersweet Life of Riley, Paulette is on a journey to connect with her estranged father Riley, a reggae musician once part of the influential Trojan Records scene, who can't seem to let go of the past. And, Suhayla El-Bushra's Waking/Walking introduces us to Anjali, a wife, mother and newly arrived migrant following Idi Amin's expulsion of the Asian minority from Uganda, who is torn between not making a fuss and seizing her moment to take a stand as the Grunwick dispute unfolds. NW Trilogy is powerful, funny and epic and shows us how we can change the world from our doorstep. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere as NW Trilogy at Kiln Theatre, London, in August 2021.

Something exciting is happening with the contemporary history play. New writing by playwrights such as Jackie Sibblies Drury, Samuel Adamson, Hannah Khalil, Cordelia Lynn, and Lucy Kirkwood, makes powerful theatrical use of the past, but does not fit into critics' familiar categories of historical drama. In this book, Benjamin Poore provides readers with tools to name and critically analyse these changes. The Contemporary History Play contends that many history plays are becoming more complex and layered in their aesthetic approaches, as playwrights work through the experience of being surrounded by numerous and varied forms of historical representation in the twenty-first century. For theatre scholars, this book offers a means of interpreting how new writing relies on the past and notions of historicity to generate meaning and resonance in the present. For playwrights and students of playwriting, the book is a guide to the history play's recent past, and to the state of the art: what techniques and formulas have been popular, the tropes that are widely used, and how artists have found ways of renewing or overturning established conventions.

A fierce and excoriating portrait of British racism, Roy William's Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads premiered in 2002 at the National Theatre. Set in a south-west London pub during the 2000 England vs. Germany match, tempers are running high. As England lose again, their supporters in The King George lose it too – at full time, patriotism has become unapologetic racism. This Methuen Drama Student Edition of the play includes commentary and notes by Gemma Edwards, University of Manchester, UK, which explore the production history of the play as well as the historical, social and cultural contexts that surround it, such as the rise of Nationalism and far-right groups in the UK. Also featuring an interview with Roy Williams about the play and its relevance 20 years on, this edition is a must-have resource for any student exploring Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads.

Together in one convenient ebook, three of Mark Zuehlke's epics of Canadian soldiers in World War II take us from the dramatic events of D-Day (June 6, 1944) to the days following, and the final push. Juno Beach, Holding Juno and Breakout from Juno focus on the Normandy Invasion and its aftermath. Juno Beach dramatically unfolds as 18,000 Canadian soldiers storm the five-mile-long stretch of Juno Beach. At battle's end one out of every six Canadians in the invasion force was either dead or wounded. The Canadians were the only Allied troop to meet their objectives. Holding Juno chronicles the crucial six days following the successful invasion. The ensuing battle was to prove bloodier than D-Day itself. The Canadians made it possible for the slow advance toward Germany and an Allied victory. Breakout from Juno takes us to the next battle a month later. On July 4, 1944, the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division won the village of Carpiquet but not the adjacent airfield. The 3rd Division, 2nd Infantry and 4th Armoured Divisions -- along with a Polish division and several British divisions came together as the First Canadian Army. This is their story.

'Who knows yet But from this Lady may proceed a gem To lighten all this isle' You know the story: a King who turns his country upside down to try and secure a male heir. But it's never been told this way before. A Queen fights for justice. A Lady provokes reformation. But in the absence of a son, can a Princess change the future? See the story of Henry VIII from a female perspective: this exploration of love, lineage and power by Shakespeare's Globe Writer in Residence (2022) Hannah Khalil unfolds in a new way.