Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Emilia

A twisting two-hander, a psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Belongings. Heather and Carla haven't seen each other since school. Their lives have taken very different paths – Carla lives a hand-to-mouth existence while Heather has a high-flying career, husband and a beautiful home. And yet, here they are in a café having tea and making awkward conversation. That is until Heather presents Carla with a bag containing a significant amount of cash and an unexpected proposition... Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's electric new thriller asks how far beyond the playground we carry our childhood experiences and to what lengths some people are willing to go to in order to come to terms with them.

The Wasp

In a mental health unit inside a prison, a group of women discover the music of punk rock band The Slits and form their own group. An outlet for their frustration, they find remedy in revolution. But in a system that suffocates, can rebellion ever be allowed? Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (Emilia), Typical Girls is a funny, fierce and furious part-gig, part-play, co-commissioned by Clean Break theatre company.

Typical Girls

Winner of the Noel Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy at the 2020 Olivier Awards In 1611 Emilia Bassano wrote a volume of radical, feminist and subversive poetry. It was one of the first published collections of poetry written by a woman in England. The little we know of Emilia Bassano is restricted to the possibility that she may have been the 'Dark Lady' of Shakespeare's Sonnets – and the rest of HerStory has been erased by History. Morgan has taken what we know of Bassano, and her poetry, to create this lively, witty play.

Lucy Prebble

Inua Ellams

Tanika Gupta

Vinay Patel

Philip Ridley

Simon Stephens

Tim Crouch

Alistair McDowall

Zoe Cooper

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

Chris Thorpe

Hannah Khalil

Edward Bond

James Graham

Sudha Bhuchar

Laura Wade

Christopher Shinn

Mojisola Adebayo

Anne Washburn

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

Theatre has a complex history of responding to crises, long before they happen. Through stage plays, contemporary challenges can be presented, explored and even foreshadowed in ways that help audiences understand the world around them. Since the theatre of the Greeks, audiences have turned to live theatre in order to find answers in uncertain political, social and economic times, and through this unique collection questions about This anthology brings together a collection of 20 scenes from 20 playwrights that each respond to the world in crisis. Twenty of the world's most prolific playwrights were asked to select one scene from across their published work that speaks to the current world situation in 2020. As COVID-19 continues to challenge every aspect of global life, contemporary theatre has long predicted a world on the edge. Through these 20 scenes from plays spanning from 1980 to 2020, we see how theatre and art has the capacity to respond, comment on and grapple with global challenges that in turn speak to the current time in which we are living. Each scene, chosen by the writer, is prefaced by an interview in which they discuss their process, their reason for selection and how their work reflects both the past and the present. From the political plays of Lucy Prebble and James Graham to the polemics of Philip Ridley and Tim Crouch. From bold works by Inua Ellams, Morgan Lloyd Malcom and Tanika Gupta to the social relevance of Hannah Khalil, Zoe Cooper and Simon Stephens this anthology looks at theatre in the present and asks the question: “how can theatre respond to a world in crisis?” The collection is prefaced by an introduction from Edward Bond, one of contemporary theatre's most prolific dramatists.

20 Scenes for the Stage in Troubled Times

Theatre in Times of Crisis

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

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