Melissa wants to get on with her life but never knows when her father is going to turn up next. Over thirty years she struggles to overcome her past while her family, torn apart by alcohol, try to repair the damage. Nick Payne's play about history and hope is a poignant, unflinching reflection on the ties that bind us.

Contemporary Queer Plays by Russian Playwrights is the first anthology of LGBTQ-themed plays written by Russian queer authors and straight allies in the 21st century. The book features plays by established and emergent playwrights of the Russian drama scene, including Roman Kozyrchikov, Andrey Rodionov and Ekaterina Troepolskaya, Valery Pecheykin, Natalya Milanteva, Olzhas Zhanaydarov, Vladimir Zaytsev, and Elizaveta Letter. Writing for children, teenagers, and adults, these authors explore gay, lesbian, trans, and other queer lives in prose and in verse. From a confession-style solo play to poetic satire on contemporary Russia; from a play for children to love dramas that have been staged for adult-only audiences in Moscow and other cities, this important anthology features work that was written around or after 2013-the year when the law on the prohibition of "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors" was passed by the Russian government. These plays are universal stories of humanity that spread a message of tolerance, acceptance, and love and make clear that a queer scenario does not necessarily have to end in a tragedy just because it was imagined and set in Russia. They show that breathing, growing old, falling in love, falling out of love, and falling in love again can be just as challenging and rewarding in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia as it can be in New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg, or Buenos Aires.

I am scared, that once this war is over, and I am sent home, that you won't be here. That you will have left. Leonard and Violet, young, restless and in love, spend their first night together knowing it may also be their last. It's 1942 and, in a hotel room in Bath, they dream of their future while preparing for Leonard's departure to the war. But the bombs begin to fall and their world will never be the same again. In the year 2002, the couple look back at what might have been. Examining the impact of the Second World War on two ordinary lives and a love that spans more than sixty years.

Edited, Introduced and Annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series, with Henry V and The Merchant of Venice as its inaugral volumes, presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal. Othello has long been recognised as one of the most powerful of Shakespeare's tragedies. This is an intense drama of love, deception, jealousy and destruction. Desdemona's love for Othello, the Moor, transcends racial prejudice; but the envious Iago conspires to devastate their lives. In its vivid rendering of racism, sexism, contested identities, and the savagery lurking within civilisation, Othello is arguably the most topical and accessible tragedy from Shakespeare's major phase as a dramatist. Productions on stage and screen regularly renew its power to engross, impress and trouble the imagination.

"As with the commander of an army, so is it with the mistress of a house". Isabella Beeton was only twenty three years old when she penned these words in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, first published in 1861. She could not have predicted how they would resonate with the women of England, nor could she have imagined how her name would become synonymous with culinary expertise and domestic bliss for generations to come. Mrs Beeton Says... is a charming and vibrant musical examining the life and legacy of this extraordinary woman: a spirited journalist, a tireless entrepreneur, and if not a perfect homemaker, then certainly a queen of organization. In a world where a woman could not vote, own a house, nor even ride a bicycle, Mrs Beeton's book gave the women of England something they desperately wanted: a bit of control.

Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal. Much Ado About Nothing has long been celebrated as one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. The central relationship, between Benedick and Beatrice, is wittily combative until love prevails. Broader comedy is provided by Dogberry, Verges and the watchmen. The drama ranges between the destructively sinister and the lyrically romantic, giving the whole a complex and sometimes problematic character. Numerous revivals, in the theatre and on screen, have displayed the lively variety and interpretative openness of this engaging comedy.

Lady Susan, a young widow, flees London and arrives at the country home of her obliging brother-in-law and his suspicious wife. Soon to come - uninvited - are an eligible suitor, her willful daughter, her chatty confidante and a dimwitted bachelor. Lady Susan schemes, but all does not go according to plan as she and her daughter become rivals for the same man. "Rob Urbinati's Lady Susan captures the essence of Jane Austen's story, as well as her humor. Today's women can easily understand that Lady Susan 'seduces and schemes' because she has no options - she cannot get a job or own property. The plight of a penniless widow trying to make a life for herself and her daughter is effectively conveyed with sympathy and biting wit. I enjoyed Jane Austen's Lady Susan very much!" - Carolyn Jack, The Jane Austen Society of North America

Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal. Romeo and Juliet is the world's most famous drama of tragic young love. Defying the feud which divides their families, Romeo and Juliet enjoy the fleeting rapture of courtship, marriage and sexual fulfilment; but a combination of old animosities and new coincidences brings them to suicidal deaths. This play offers a rich mixture of romantic lyricism, bawdy comedy, intimate harmony and sudden violence. Long successful in the theatre, it has also generated numerous operas, ballets and films; and these have helped to make Romeo and Juliet perennially topical.

Twee dramas oor familie, verhoudings, vergifnis en herinneringe. Wat bybly, is dat mense maar net mense is. Dat versoening deel van menswees is. Dat stukkende mense mekaar kan help heel word en dat familie tog familie bly – ondanks omstandighede, persoonlike keuses en uitdagings. Sandton City grootdoop: ‘n Drama oor ’n ma en haar twee dogters wat vir die eerste keer in ’n lang tyd bymekaarkom om die oudste, Danel, se verjaardag in Sandton City te vier. In die proses begin die trio mekaar se verlede, gevoelens en emosies oopkrap met eerlike, en snaakse, oomblikke. Kara, die ma, is die aktrise wat haar man en kinders op ’n jong ouderdom verlaat het om haar groot droom om wereldberoemd te word, na te volg. Sy erken dat sy nie bevoeg of beskore was vir moederskap nie, maar probeer tog om tot hulle deur te dring en hulle vertroueling te wees. Haar oudste dogter, Danel, is bipoler en bly na ‘n onlangse selfmoordpoging weer by haar ma. Sy is naief en emosioneel en val maklik vir haar ma se manipulasie. Haar suster, Lisa, is gay en verwyt haar ma dat sy nog niks met haar lewe gedoen het nie. Sy is kwaad en kras en wil graag haar ma skok met haar uitlatings oor seks, maar ’n mens kom agter dat sy eintlik baie kwesbaar is. Die dag is bros: Dis laatmiddag. Elsa, voorheen ’n lektor in Afrikaanse letterkunde, berei ’n driegangmaaltyd voor vir Brian se verjaarsdag. Hy was ’n jeugmisdadiger wat ’n tweede kans gegun is onder Elsa se vlerk. Sy stel hom bloot aan Sheila Cussons en hy vul ’n leemte in haar lewe. Tussendeur word daar speletjies gespeel met Tertius – die vreemde kind wat kersiebloeisels aandra uit Japan. Voor die kos koud kan word sal die dag ’n ingrypende wending neem. Die Dag is Bros is benoem vir ’n Fiesta as beste nuutgeskepte Afrikaanse produksie.

Had an accident at work? Tripped on a paving slab? Cut yourself shaving? You could be entitled to compensation. Andrew and Barry at Scorpion Claims, Luton's finest personal injury lawyers, are the men for you. When Kevin, Andrew's high school nemesis, appears in his office the opportunity for a quick win arises. But just how fast does a lie have to spin before it gets out of control?

Four actors play a combined twenty-one characters within Incognito's three interwoven stories. A pathologist steals the brain of Albert Einstein; a neuropsychologist embarks on her first romance with another woman; a seizure patient forgets everything but how much he loves his girlfriend. Incognito braids these mysterious stories into one breathtaking whole that asks whether memory and identity are nothing but illusions.