Morna Pearson

Hannah Khalil

Vlad Butucea

Can you ever really trust a machine? It is the near future. A couple are struggling to conceive, but fortunately their company has the perfect solution. A woman waits in a VR metaverse to do homework with her young daughter. In a care home staffed by advanced AIs, a woman struggles to make a connection with her android carer. Interference is a trilogy of near-future plays. Staged in an empty office block transformed with vivid projection and atmospheric soundscapes. It asks the question: will technology interfere with what we really need from each other? This edition was published to coincide with National Theatre of Scotland's 2019 production.

Interference

Alistair Beaton

Rob Drummond

Anthony Neilson

Kieran Hurley

To paraphrase Alistair Beaton's Caledonia - the first play in this collection - 'The English have anthologies, the Spanish have anthologies, the French have anthologies . . . why should not Scotland have its anthology?' Scotland is entering a crucial period in its history, where its identity is being debated daily, from everyday conversation to the national and international press. At the same time, its theatre is resurgent, with key Scottish playwrights, theatres and theatre companies expanding their performance vocabularies while coming to prominence in national and international contexts. Caledonia is a tale of hubris and delusion, portraying a crucial slice of Scotland's history and its foray into imperial colonialism told with dark humour and creative flair, by award-winning playwright and satirist Alistair Beaton. Bullet Catch, by Rob Drummond, is a unique theatrical experience exploring the world of magic, featuring mind-reading, levitation, and the most notorious finale in show business. Morna Pearson's The Artist Man and the Mother Woman is a wickedly funny, deceptively simple, surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship. Rantin', by Kieran Hurley draws on storytelling, live music and an unapologetically haphazard take on Scottish folk tradition, in an attempt to stitch together fragmented stories to reveal a botched patchwork of a nation. First performed at the Royal Court in 2013, Narrative by Anthony Neilson is a theatrical exploration of the the boundaries and possibilities of storytelling. Featuring plays from Alistair Beaton, Rob Drummond, Morna Pearson, Kieran Hurley and Anthony Neilson, this collection is edited by Dr. Trish Reid, a leading critical voice on Scottish theatre.

Caledonia; Bullet Catch; The Artist Man and Mother Woman; Narrative; Rantin

Contemporary Scottish Plays

When Helen Daniels from Neighbours died, Robert shut his door on the world. And he's not opened it since. Now his only connection to the outside world is through his younger sister Isla, who looks after them both whilst their father is away in Ibiza on 'business'. With only a strange menagerie of creatures (including an iguana called Scott and a corn snake called Charlene) to keep them company, each day looks pretty much the same as the last – until their quiet lives are interrupted by a visit from Jessica, a benefit assessor, determined to prove that Robert is fit for work. But Jessica soon realises that one size certainly does not fit all, as she suddenly stumbles across a secret about Robert that catapults her head first into a universe of infinite possibilities. Merging biting social commentary and fantasy in unexpected ways, How to Disappear is a pitch-black comedy which gives a voice to those who often go unheard.

How to Disappear

A collection of era-defining Scottish drama written and produced in the period from devolution to the 2014 referendum on independence.

Hanna Khalil

Can you ever really trust a machine? It is the near future. A couple are struggling to conceive, but fortunately their company has the perfect solution. A woman waits in a VR metaverse to do homework with her young daughter. In a care home staffed by advanced AIs, a woman struggles to make a connection with her android carer. Interference is a trilogy of near-future plays. Staged in an empty office block transformed with vivid projection and atmospheric soundscapes. It asks the question: will technology interfere with what we really need from each other?

Darklands

The Artist Man and the Mother Woman is a wickedly funny, deceptively simple, surreal portrait of a spectacularly dysfunctional relationship.

The Artist Man and the Mother Woman

Jonathan Harvey

Howard Brenton

Stacey Gregg

Lucinda Coxon

Lenny Henry

Jemma Kennedy

Anya Reiss

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.

Morna Pearson

Books

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