What makes someone a playwright? How do their identities and ideas interweave and co-exist? What permanent truths can we discern from examining existing texts? How can we write theatre that encapsulates the contemporary moment? How do we develop an idea from the embryonic impulse to a full and robust piece of theatre? In this fresh, lively and often very funny book, playwright Ryan Craig makes a case for the vitality of playwriting in our contemporary world and offers a way into writing those plays. From the very first moment of the process, as you sit in a coffee shop, staring at your 'laptop yawning open like some big, gormless mouth, the screen a flickering blank', to seeing your play staged and reviewed, the author takes you through the complete journey. Drawing on his own experience of writing for theatres such as the National, Hampstead and Tricycle and Menier Chocolate Factory, TV drama scripts for BBC, ITV and Channel Four, radio plays and adaptation, as well as commercial theatre, the author explores what practical tools the dramatist can use to write plays that build bridges between us. Full of practical advice for the aspiring - and practising - playwright, this book is also an important call-to-arms for playwrights everywhere, arguing for its necessity in the context of an increasingly fractured, distracted, disconnected world.

Urban Ecology is a rapidly growing field of academic and practical significance. Urban ecologists have published several conference proceedings and regularly contribute to the ecological, architectural, planning, and geography literature. However, important papers in the field that set the foundation for the discipline and illustrate modern approaches from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world have not been collected in a single, accessible book. Foundations of Urban Ecology does this by reprinting important European and American publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few, targeted original works, and translating key works originally published in German. This edited volume will provide students and professionals with a rich background in all facets of urban ecology.

The editors emphasize the drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlement. The papers they synthesize provide readers with a broad understanding of the local and global aspects of settlement through traditional natural and social science lenses. This interdisciplinary vision gives the reader a comprehensive view of the urban ecosystem by introducing drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlements and the relationships between humans and other animals, plants, ecosystem processes, and abiotic conditions. The reader learns how human institutions, health, and preferences influence, and are influenced by, the others members of their shared urban ecosystem.

Urban Ecology is a rapidly growing field of academic and practical significance. Urban ecologists have published several conference proceedings and regularly contribute to the ecological, architectural, planning, and geography literature. However, important papers in the field that set the foundation for the discipline and illustrate modern approaches from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world have not been collected in a single, accessible book. Foundations of Urban Ecology does this by reprinting important European and American publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few, targeted original works, and translating key works originally published in German. This edited volume will provide students and professionals with a rich background in all facets of urban ecology. The editors emphasize the drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlement. The papers they synthesize provide readers with a broad understanding of the local and global aspects of settlement through traditional natural and social science lenses. This interdisciplinary vision gives the reader a comprehensive view of the urban ecosystem by introducing drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlements and the relationships between humans and other animals, plants, ecosystem processes, and abiotic conditions. The reader learns how human institutions, health, and preferences influence, and are influenced by, the others members of their shared urban ecosystem.

What makes someone a playwright? How do their identities and ideas interweave and co-exist? What permanent truths can we discern from examining existing texts? How can we write theatre that encapsulates the contemporary moment? How do we develop an idea from the embryonic impulse to a full and robust piece of theatre? In this fresh, lively and often very funny book, playwright Ryan Craig makes a case for the vitality of playwriting in our contemporary world and offers a way into writing those plays. From the very first moment of the process, as you sit in a coffee shop, staring at your 'laptop yawning open like some big, gormless mouth, the screen a flickering blank', to seeing your play staged and reviewed, the author takes you through the complete journey. Drawing on his own experience of writing for theatres such as the National, Hampstead and Tricycle and Menier Chocolate Factory, TV drama scripts for BBC, ITV and Channel Four, radio plays and adaptation, as well as commercial theatre, the author explores what practical tools the dramatist can use to write plays that build bridges between us. Full of practical advice for the aspiring - and practising - playwright, this book is also an important call-to-arms for playwrights everywhere, arguing for its necessity in the context of an increasingly fractured, distracted, disconnected world.

Four millennials looking for sex, love and a well-located flat find themselves caught in a complex game of rivalry, desire and seduction. As the cost of happiness soars, how can they negotiate the new rules of modern relationships and win the game of love? Games for Lovers is a glittering modern rom-com with a wicked gleam in its eye.

Antigone makes everything OK. Gives me hope. I'm utterly devoted to her. I couldn't imagine what would happen if she weren't here. What could a play written 2,500 years ago possibly mean today? Ryan Craig's new adaptation of Sophocles' famous tragedy captures the passion, danger and moral deadlock of the story of Greece's most famous teenager. Set in the aftermath of a bloody civil war, Antigone fights for what she believes is right. What would you do?

You must've heard him banging on about the long line of Rosenbergs, stretching back to the Bible. He reckons some ancient relative catered the Last Supper. As big-hearted patriarch David clings to a deal that could save both his ailing catering firm and his cherished standing in the Edgware Jewish community, his children are at loggerheads. While eldest son Danny fights for the Israelis in Gaza, his sister investigates war crimes in that same conflict. Their brother drinks and brawls and refuses to join their father's business. But when tragedy strikes, each family member is forced to confront head-on the clash between individual identity and the demands and expectations of community. What would make a personality like Danny's fly Apache helicopter gun-ships over Gaza? Why would he put himself in that position? Ryan Craig's new play explores tribal loyalties, the culpability of family and the consequences of standing up for what you believe to be right. The Holy Rosenburgs has its world premiere at the National Theatre in March 2011.

"I want to be a fireman." "I want to be a teacher." "I want to be a movie star." Poland, 1925. As these Polish classmates - five Catholic, five Jewish - grow up, their lives take dramatically unexpected turns as their country is torn apart by invading armies, first Soviet and then German. Friend betrays friend and violence quickly escalates, reaching a crescendo that will forever haunt the survivors. Based on true events in the Polish village of Jedwabne and inspired in part by Jan T. Gross' controversial book Neighbors, Our Class bravely explores a subject still debated today.

Two couples trample on friends and lovers as they search for happiness. In Fringe First and Peggy Ramsay award winner Ryan Craig's play, their dialogue crackles with desperation and raw humour.
"Happy Savages" was performed at the Underbelly, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2008.

In a police safe house in a leafy suburb, a young lawyer, Myles, is seduced into a rapport with a notorious historian he has been hired to defend. But the sinister nature of the historian's crimes soon become clear, sending him into an ethical and emotional collision with his own identity. As Myles defends an infamous Holocaust denier, he becomes embroiled in the human rights paradox of free speech, where the liberty of the individual to express themselves freely is set against the security and peace of the community. This title is a production at the Hampstead Theatre in November 2006.

Sickened by the everyday arguments and compromises he saw around him in his native London, the idealistic Josh has moved to Israel and joined the army. There, however, he finds himself in a situation with a Palestinian terror suspect which seems to challenge his most strongly held beliefs.Deftly cutting between different locations and time periods, Ryan Craig's play lets us see unexpected connections between disparate events, as well as bringing together people with apparently nothing in common. A wryly humerous, sometimes hilarious, look at a serious issue, What We Did To Weinstein moves between London life and the world of the intifada, creating a portrait of a society where idealism too easily becomes extremism and pragmatism hypocrisy.

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.