Anton Chekhov

Anya Reiss

Nothing's new Everything's old. I'm exactly the same as ever Only more lazy More aimless More curmudgeonly...' One of the high points of world drama, Chekhov's bittersweet tale of frustrated lives and unrequited loves - by turns witty, playful, nostalgic and tragic - is captured in all its complexity by Bryony Lavery's spirited, sharply-written adaptation, first produced at Birmingham Rep in 2007.

Uncle Vanya

12 year old Delilah enjoys High School Musical, swim parties and ogling the lodger. Whilst her parents throw verbal grenades at one another, they barely notice their 21 year old tenant starting to notice her. The debut play by Anya Reiss, written when she was seventeen, it looks at the distance between close family relations and a young girl on the brink of adolescence.

Spur of the Moment

This has been the worst day of my life. So can you please get drunk with me? Dana, Ruth and Jess down shots to console the heart-broken, to comfort the anxious and just pass the time. Kicked out from the family home Jess’s dad, Jim, invades the party with just as much recklessness as the girls. As the night passes and vodka bottles are emptied, Friday night in becomes high drama. An unruly new comedy asking if age equals maturity, Acid Test opened at the Royal Court in May 2011.

The Acid Test

Jonathan Harvey

Howard Brenton

Stacey Gregg

Lucinda Coxon

Lenny Henry

Jemma Kennedy

Morna Pearson

Ryan Craig

Jim Cartwright

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights – a mixture of established and current writers – National Theatre Connections 2013 offers young performers between the ages of thirteen and nineteen everywhere an engaging selection of plays to perform, read or study. Each play is specifically commissioned by the National Theatre's literary department and reflects the past year's programming at the venue in the plays' ideas, themes and styles. The plays are performed by approximately 200 schools and youth theatre companies across the UK and Ireland, in partnership with multiple professional regional theatres where the works are showcased. The volume features an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director for the National Theatre Discover Programme, and each play includes notes from the writer and director addressing the themes and ideas behind the play, as well as production notes and exercises. Published to coincide with the 2013 Connections festival, and the 50th anniversary of the National Theatre, this year's collection features work from Howard Brenton, Jim Cartwright, Lucinda Coxon, Ryan Craig, Stacey Gregg, Jonathan Harvey, Lenny Henry, Jemma Kennedy, Morna Pearson, and Anya Reiss.

The Guffin; Mobile Phone Show; What Are They Like?; We Lost Elijah; I'm Spilling My Heart Out Here; Tomorrow I'll Be Happy; Soundclash; Don't Feed the Animals; Ailie and the Alien; Forty-Five Minutes

National Theatre Connections 2013

This, the third National Theatre Connections anthology published with Methuen Drama, is aimed at young performers and schools, and marks the National Theatre's 50th anniversary.

Anya Reiss

Books

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