Michael Morpurgo

Samuel Adamson

Running Wild

Henrik Ibsen

Specially commissioned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Southwark Playhouse, Samuel Adamson's version of A Doll's House brings zest to this classic play. Thus, the story of Nora, the delicate and over-protected wife of Torvald Helmer, who bravely walks away from her confined marriage in a quest for freedom and self-enlightenment, remains poignant and real for modern-day audiences. Naively, Nora has secretly borrowed money for her husband by forging her father's signature. Krogstad, her creditor, has discovered her fraud and threatens to expose her in order to ruin Torvald. When Torvald finally finds out, Nora is appalled that he would protect his own reputation rather than support her.

A Drama in Three Acts

A Doll's House

- And your husband forgave you. But what did you do? Decided that forgiveness was offensive and walked out on your marriage. With nothing. Into nothing. - Into everything, I think. It's 1959. Robert leaves Ibsen's A Doll's House outraged by its attack on the sanctity of marriage; his wife Daisy dashes round to the stage door, in love with both Nora and the actress who plays her, thrilled by their promise of escape. Daisy is at the crossroads. Her moral compass tells her to go one way, society the other. What she chooses to do next will have consequences not just for her and Robert, but for four couples who come after them over ninety years. The truth is we have to give up parts of ourselves if we want to be with someone. And what if, before you know this, you run away from the wrong person? Samuel Adamson's Wife premiered at Kiln Theatre, London, in May 2019.

Wife

Today - after I had the electric sex, got clobbered, killed the dog and parked the hijacked ice-cream van - I found the pop legend's house in Greenwich. Small-time hack and seeker of minor adventure, Rachel sets off down the Thames Path to Greenwich to interview Lulu for her tabloid's glossy supplement. But between London Bridge and the pop legend's mirrored hallway lies a series of unpredicted and comic events. Some Kind of Bliss is a play about how a walk on an everyday Wednesday can become an odyssey that turns your life upside down. Some Kind of Bliss opened at the Trafalgar Studios, London, in November 2007.

Some Kind of Bliss

For Lilly and her mother, going to Indonesia isn't just another holiday. It's an escape and a new start. But when Will takes a gentle ride along the beach on an elephant called Oona, calamity strikes. As a tsunami comes crashing towards them, Oona charges deep into the jungle, her young rider desperately clinging on. Miles from civilisation, there's wonder, discovery and treetop adventures among the orang-utans. But then as Lilly's thoughts turn to his mother left behind on the beach, tigers prowl, hunger hits, and she must learn to survive the rainforest. Samuel Adamson's adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel Running Wild was premiered by the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in 2015. It received its professional premiere in May 2016, in a Regent's Park Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre co-production. Running Wild was winner of Best Show for Children and Young People at the 2015 UK Theatre Awards.

Based on the Novel

Following the tragic death of her beloved son, Manuela goes to Barcelona in search of the father. But before she can exorcise her guilt she gets caught up in the lives of three women: Agrado, a long-lost transexual friend; Rosa, a young nun in search of love; and, Huma Rojo, the famous actress Manuela's son so admired.

Based on the Film by Pedro Almodóvar

All about My Mother

No one has recognised Reade Collins in the street for over a decade. Suddenly everyone seems to know who he is again - things are looking up. But there's a flip side to second-hand fame - and Reade discovers that there's more than one way of getting shafted. Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie is a wildly entertaining look at the nature of celebrity. Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 1999.

Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie

Tori Amos

I'm done, Father, Keep your crown, I swear you'll never bring me down! I am not queen material! Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby, so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, one day declares war. Althea, forced out of hiding, escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land and the warring heirs begin a passionate affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first face her own deepest fears.

Samuel Adamson

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