John Gabriel Borkman, once an illustrious entrepreneur, has been brought low by a prison sentence for fraud. As he paces alone in an upstairs room, bankrupt and disgraced, he is obsessed by dreams of his comeback. Downstairs, his estranged wife plots the restoration of the family name. When her sister arrives unannounced, she triggers a desperate showdown with the past. Henrik Ibsen's most contemporary play and his penultimate, John Gabriel Borkman is gripping, penetrating and savagely funny. This version by Lucinda Coxon premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in September 2022, directed by Nicholas Hytner, with a cast led by Clare Higgins, Simon Russell Beale and Lia Williams.

A psychological thriller excavating the fault lines that separate the entitled from the rest, Alys, Always is adapted for the stage by Lucinda Coxon from Harriet Lane's gripping novel. Frances works on the books pages of a Sunday newspaper. She's quiet and capable, but nobody takes much notice: her face is pressed to the window, on the outside, looking in. One evening, driving back to London after visiting her infuriating parents, she comes across an overturned car crumpled on the side of the road. She waits with the injured driver, Alys Kyte, until the ambulance arrives. Later, when Alys's famous family gets in touch, Frances finds herself ushered for the first time into the world on the other side of the window. And she begins to wonder: what will it take to belong? This stage version of Alys, Always was premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in February 2019, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Joanne Froggatt and Robert Glenister. 'Wonderfully observed... a gripping, psychologically complex achievement, whose greatest success is the lingering sense of unease' Sunday Telegraph on Harriet Lane's novel

Four short plays for young actors

Making Scenes 3 is an exciting selection of plays commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for the BT National Connections festival for young actors in 1995.
Indian Summer by Harwant Bains; Kulwant returns to India and becomes fascinated with an ice-cream seller and the Holy Man who has sat for years with a sword through his mouth. When Kulwant pulls out the sword and offers the man a tutti-frutti ice-cream, a remarkable friendship is established.
Almost Grown by Richard Cameron; set in Yorkshire this is the story of how a tragic accident has affected the lives of three friends.
The Ice Palace by Lucinda Coxon; in this magical rites of passage tale Siss and Unn are best friends at school, but when Siss goes to visit her one day they set out on an adventure into a magnificent frozen waterfall from which Unn will never return.
The Dark Tower by Louis MacNeice; Roland must follow his ancestors' and brothers' footsteps on a journey through time, by ship across the sea of doubt, past ghost towns of history and through 'deserts of dried-up hopes', until he reaches the Dark Tower.

Each play includes Production Notes, dealing with setting and staging, costume, lighting and casting. Also included are a set of questions and exercises for workshop classes.

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.