Four inspirational tales of Essex resilience intertwine to make an unmissable world premiere by the region's most exciting playwrights. The Essex Princess by Anne Odeke It's 1908 and Joanna's planning to provoke the attention of Southend and the whole of the nation, by becoming the first black woman to compete in a beauty pageant. Fiza by Guleraana Mir Fiza's moved home with her parents. Under dire circumstances... At nearly 40. Will she pick herself up in time for the dreaded school reunion? Never Never Land by Kenny Emson Tag's out with the lads in 1998 - it's his last night as a proper Essex boy. But there are last nights, and there are last nights. Everybody Gets Born by Sadie Hasler Daisy's having a baby. Yep, right now. Actually having a baby. The drugs kick in, the room goes fuzzy, and Daisy finds herself back in 1978... in her mum's glam band.

Remember the moment you became an adult? Or did you miss it? Kev used to have a girlfriend called Lisa, she wore a fitted blazer and Reebok classics, lit up the school yard. Kev used to be the captain of the school football team. Scored the winner in the All-Essex schools cup final. Ben used to get beaten up most days. He stole money from his mum's purse to pay off `Wicksy'. Now he's an accountant. But Ben always had Jack. His loyal, unbreakable mate Jack. Adults are the kids that survive school right? And what if some kids don't? Kenneth Emson's Plastic is a charged, poetic, unflinchingly honest new play about time, memory and escape.

'Rule number eleven: We don't talk about them. Not here. They don't exist here.' Nadia and Daniel have a secret. In fact they have quite a few. They've just signed on the dotted line for a studio flat. Under a pseudonym, naturally - Mr and Mrs White. After years of school pick-ups, TV takeaways, and the day-to-day drudgery of married life, this is their chance to wipe the slate clean. But as much as they try and redefine the rules, and themselves, the outside world is closing in. Ultra-contemporary, sexy and funny, Kenny Emson's play Rust pushes the boundaries of trust, love and lust to the limit. Rust premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, ahead of transferring to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and HighTide Festival in 2019, in a co-production between the Bush and HighTide.

Rory and Gemma break in to the Mersea Island RNLI station on Halloween. He wants to run away to London. She wants him to notice that she’s not drinking. Over the course of the next thirty-four years the consequences of that night will tear their lives apart. A haunting new play about family ties, grief and forgiveness. ‘a superbly well tuned piece of writing’ Evening Standard on Terrorism 'The best piece of new writing currently on the London stage' Aleks Sierz on Plastic

A play about youth work. In one of the thousands of forgotten youth centres across our country, Eric works for a single hour each week to break Daniel out of his spiral towards jail or the grave. But what happens when the work itself becomes a matter of life and death? The Shit by Kenny Emson is an honest, unflinching examination of the relationship between those on the margins of society and the people employed to help them.