This imaginative play is closely based on the Greek myth of Persephone's abduction and descent into the Underworld. Ceres, the Goddess of the Harvest, has a daughter, Persephone, who is kidnapped by Dis, God of the Underworld. Can Zeus, the lord of the gods, persuade Dis to let Persephone return to Earth? The compromise achieved by having Persephone divide her time between the two worlds serves as an allegory of the seasons.-Large flexible cast

Always drawing together the work of 10 leading playwrights - a mixture of established and current writers - the annual National Theatre Connections anthologies offer young performers between the ages of 13 and 19 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. For the first time, there is an anthology of monologues for young people available, taken from plays commissioned as part of the National Theatre Connections over the past 20 years. The monologues feature alongside a general introduction by the editor, Anthony Banks (Associate Director for the National Theatre Discover Programme).The volume also contains individual studies of each monologue with the editor's suggested points for discussion, a brief commentary about the play from which the speech is taken, as well as flagging potential performance decisions and offering up dramaturgical suggestions. Each page features one monologue, plus the individual commentary and some background to the play. This anthology of monologues is the ideal resource for teenagers and young people attending auditions either in the amateur or professional theatre world; students leaving secondary school to audition for drama school; as well as teachers of English and Drama looking for suitable dramatic for their students to engage with and perform. It provides suitable scene-study books that are suitable and relevant to the student in terms of tone, style and content. Young actors who have searched for audition material written in the voice of teenage characters will welcome this resource. With a foreword by actor Matt Smith.

Giant Rumblebottom is about to destroy the kingdom, but if there is anyone with more important worries on his mind it is our unlikely hero, Olaf, who thinks he's so ugly that he has to wear a balaclava. When he wins the lottery, plastic surgery comes within his reach.

* Award-winning playwright explores classroom bullying and teachers' responses. * Includes Teachers' Resources to aid structured discussion and exploration of the themes raised in schools, colleges and beyond. Care Takers is part of an Edge Hill University (Birmingham, UK) research project on homophobia. The team invites everyone, after seeing or reading (or both!) the play, to give feedback by completing the online survey, here (10 minutes). * Care Takers included on a programme of International Health and Humanities Conference, Health Humanities: Creative Practices as Care (September 2016): a growing worldwide interdisciplinary dialogue across diverse communities of arts and humanities academics and practitioners, clinicians, informal carers, service users and the self-caring public. Conference details are here. * The play is great for use as a source text for all those interested in the impact of creative practices in health, psychological well-being and enhancing social inclusion of people. Includes: hospitals, social and community centres, mental health centres, schools, and museums.

A giant builds a high wall around his beautiful garden to prevent the children from playing in it. However, he is taught a valuable lesson when spring does not return and the garden remains in winter all year round. One morning the unusual sound of birdsong and the sight of a small, frail child trying to climb a tree reminds the giant how selfish he has been. He knocks down the wall, spring arrives and the giant is happy that his garden is now free for all. This enchanting sung-through musical was written especially for a large cast of young people and enjoyed three successful seasons at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in 1995, 1999 and 2002. It has great opportunity for lots of chorus and solo work, which can be easily adapted according to how many children are available.

The Gruffalo is an internationally bestselling picture book, a popular stage show, a BAFTA and Oscar-nominated animation - and now the story has been adapted into a fun and accessible play script by Julia Donaldson. Ideal for children to use as a school play or at home, The Gruffalo Play has been designed with rehearsals and performance in mind. A clear layout and colour-coding for each character will help children to follow their lines and join the action with ease. The book also contains a hints and tips section which includes helpful advice on staging the play and performing it with larger groups. There are ideas too for themed make-and-do Gruffalo activities, as well as stage make-up for Gruffalo and Mouse! And of course no production of The Gruffalo Play would be complete without the lyrics and music for beloved Gruffalo Song. With Axel Scheffler's fun illustrations, this wonderful, dramatic way to share the classic story is sure to delight teachers, parents and children everywhere.

The pupils of St Campion's Comprehensive, ultra-disciplined exam machines, are devoted to their headmaster. But something strange is going on and the worst class in the world - 6Z - are going to get to the bottom of this mystery and expose the DEMON HEADMASTER! Based on the very popular children's book, The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross, this musical is fun, exciting and a little bit scary. An early version of the musical was 'workshopped' at the Royal National Theatre's studio in 1997 and premiered at The Pleasance Theatre, London. In 1999 it enjoyed a very successful national tour.Large flexible cast

A tense truce holds between the Capulets and the Montagues after the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Benvolio, Romeo's best friend, is in love with Rosaline, Juliet's cousin; but Rosaline is bent on revenge. After Juliet by Sharman Macdonald was specially commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for the BT National Connections Scheme for young people.

On a school trip to research the history of a graveyard, a group of students unearth a lot more than they bargained for! This excellent adaptation retells Theresa Breslin's timeless, Carnegie medal-winning story. Solomon is bullied by his teachers and let down by his parents. His refuge is the graveyard in the shadow of the rowan tree, the only thing that grows there. When workmen uproot the tree a strange and terrible power is unleashed. It seems a lust for revenge is spanning the centuries...* A thrilling adaptation of a Carnegie medal-winning novel. * Packed with social and historical themes. * Perfect for exploring character.

An engaging classroom playscript. Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of gothic horror has now been adapted for secondary students. Written by classroom favourite Adrian Flynn, the play will thrill students with its story of a doctor whose scientific experiments lead him to get in touch with his darker side... New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a springboard for personal writing.

Now everyone can join the witch and her cat for a magical adventure with this fun and accessible playscript, adapted by the author from the bestselling picture book Room on the Broom. The Room on the Broom Play has been designed with rehearsals and performance in mind, with a clear layout and colour-coding for each character, perfect for helping children to follow their lines and join in the action! The book also contains a hints and tips section, which includes helpful advice on staging the play and ideas for props. There are also ideas for themed Room on the Broom activities. With Axel Scheffler's bright and characterful illustrations and Julia Donaldson's hilarious and witty rhyming playscript, this wonderful, dramatic way to share the classic story is sure to delight teachers, parents and children everywhere.

An engaging classroom playscript. John Douglas is a man with a past. Sherlock Holmes is the famous detective who finds puzzle-solving elementary. When Holmes and his faithful friend Watson are summoned to the country to investigate Douglas's murder, it begins to look as though the past might finally have caught up with him. New, innovative activities specifically tailored to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to fulfil the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, close text analysis, and the structure of playscripts, and act as a springboard for personal writing.

Kevin is Catholic. Sadie is Protestant. In Belfast they are supposed to be enemies - so what chance do they have when they fall in love? This title offers activities to support the KS3 Framework for Teaching English and help students to meet the Framework objectives. Activities include work on Speaking and Listening, and text analysis.

Sometimes a lie is a wish. Once upon a time there was a lonely carpenter, a curious cat, and a little wooden puppet who one day came to life... In this spectacular new version of the much-loved classic tale, Pinocchio discovers why it's best to always tell the truth. With a touch of magic from the blue fairy, enter a world of gingerbread villages and snow-capped mountains in this adventure of friendship and family, written by award-winning and internationally recognised writer Eve Leigh. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Unicorn Theatre, London, in November 2022.

This work features easily staged scenes with believable teen characters in a variety of comic situations.

Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it's time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it. A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid-fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in an unforgiving world, soundtracked by an exhilarating score. A play about love, life and losing your mind, Wasted heralded the dramatic career of one of the UK's most exciting performance poets, Kate Tempest. It was originally produced by Paines Plough and is published here as a Methuen Drama Student Edition alongside commentary and notes by Katie Beswick, lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter. The ancillary material is geared at students and includes: - an introduction outlining the play's plot, character, themes context and performance history - the full text of the play - a chronology of the playwright's life and work - extensive textual notes

Oxford School Shakespeare is an acclaimed edition especially designed for students, with accessible on-page notes and explanatory illustrations, clear background information, and rigorous-but-accessible scholarly credentials. Henry V is a popular text for study by secondary students the world over. This edition includes illustrations, preliminary notes, reading lists and classroom notes. This title is suitable for all exam boards and for the most recent GCSE specifications.

Rockfist Slim's enemies have just plunged him into yet another desperate situation when Kevin has to close his detective book and go to sleep. But his own adventure is only just beginning. Fast-moving, fun and full of special effects, Ayckbourn's wonderfully inventive play for children brings alive several well-known children's books as Kevin and Rockfist Slim escape the baddies and plunge into many different worlds. The Boy Who Fell into a Book premiered at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in December 1998.

Looking for a whizzpoppingly wonderful collection of plays for your whole class? Want some ready-made, delumptious lesson plans to accompany them? Biffsquiggled at the thought of how to stage these pieces? Well, look no further because this is a scrumdiddlyumptious selection of David Wood's plays; paired with all the information and materials you need to use them in class or on stage, edited by Paul Bateson, an experienced primary-level drama teacher. The plays create worlds that trigger children's imaginations as well as entertain them, make them think as well as make them laugh, and open their minds to new ideas and the power of storytelling through theatre. Plays included are: The Gingerbread Man The See-Saw Tree The BFG Save the Human Mother Goose's Golden Christmas This book also contains a new foreword by David Wood.

This volume contains six plays by Ted Hughes which are particularly suitable for performance by children. Four of them were published originally under the title, The Coming of the Kings and Other Plays. Added to these are Orpheus and The Pig Organ, the former only ever published in America, the latter (which was written as a libretto) never before published. Hughes enters the timeless world of folklore and fable and brings home a wonderful haul, managing to produce comedy, tragedy and magic from the same net, and then to move effortlessly between them. He makes stories from familiar elements (the Nativity, or Beauty and the Beast or a quest to save a sickening king), but approaches them from unexpected angles and sets them off in different directions. What characterizes the pieces is the energy Hughes generates not only in the unfolding action but in the drama of the language itself, which is as robustly up-to-date as it is lyrical.

This incredibly hysterical, cutting-edge monologue book will give the teen actor the extra bang he needs to land the perfect comedic role! Teen Boys' Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny features monologues by writers and comics who have written for and/or performed on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Last Comic Standing, E! Entertainment, Comedy Central Stage, and many, many more. This book is the answer to the comedic monologue needs of teen actors everywhere!

In the bitter cold of an unrelenting winter Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in Chust and despite the inhospitability of the villagers settle there as woodcutters. Tomas digs a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long battered box everywhere they go, and why he is forbidden to know its contents. But when a band of gypsies comes to the village Peter's drab existence is turned upside down. He is infatuated by the beautiful gypsy princess, Sofia, intoxicated by their love of life and drawn into their deadly quest. For Chust is a dying community - where the dead come back to wreak revenge on the living. Amidst the terrifying events that follow, Peter is stunned to see his father change from a disillusioned man to the warrior hero he once was.

* New collection of plays for young people across the globe from award-winning playwright. * Ideal for schools, colleges and youth theatre companies. Follow up to the acclaimed PLAYS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE by award-winning playwright, includes: Missing: a modern take on Hansel and Gretel, about the nature of poverty, inspired also by true events. A gripping story of a brother searching for his missing sister in a sinister world of deceit and unknown peril. This is a modern day fairytale about two children surviving desperate circumstances through a rich mix of power, loyalty, love and sheer cunning. This play won the German Children's Theatre Prize 2010 and has had eight productions in Germany and one here. Nivelli's War: about a six year old German Evacuee and his journey home at the end of WW2. Pirates: about a boy at sea, the play is on the surface a rollicking pirate tale and can be enjoyed as a fantasy adventure - but it is also a story about a child's emotional journey as he sails the tempestuous seas of his parents' separation. This was nominated both for the Writer's Guild Best Children's Play and a Helen Hayes Award in America for Outstanding new play. Winner of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education 'Distinguished Play' Award 2012.