Sam Holcroft's elusive and explosive new play about censorship, authorship and free speech, A Mirror, is premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in August 2023, directed by Jeremy Herrin.

Six plays by some of the most exciting and distinctive female voices in British theatre, exploring the heartbreaking truth about the lives of women in the criminal justice system. The plays were commissioned and premiered by Clean Break, a theatre and education company working with women whose lives have been affected by the criminal justice system. Included in this volume: Fatal Light by Chloe Moss, about a young mother's inability to cope with separation from her daughter. Taken by Winsome Pinnock, about a mother confronted by the child she had to give up. Dream Pill by Rebecca Prichard, about two children forced into prostitution. Doris Day by E V Crowe, about two police officers and their different expectations of the job. Dancing Bears by Sam Holcroft, about the twisted loyalties and violence in teenage gangs. That Almost Unnameable Lust by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, about a writer holding workshops with older women in a prison. The plays were first performed at Soho Theatre, London, in November 2010.

Everyone creates their own coping strategies or rules for living. But what happens when an extended family gathers in the kitchen for a traditional Christmas and they each follow those rules, rigidly? As long-held mechanisms for survival are laid bare, even Mum, who's been preparing this lunch since last January, becomes embroiled. Time-honoured rivalries and resentments will out. Accusations fly, relationships deconstruct, the rules take over. In Sam Holcroft's theatrically playful, dark comedy the instructions are there for all to see, audience included - so there's really no place to hide. Rules for Living premiered at the National Theatre, London, in March 2015.

A gripping journey through British history that shows how our country was shaped and how connected we are with our past. Across seven centuries, small groups of children seek sanctuary in the same solid old wardrobe. It's the safest place they know - but is it safe enough? The Wardrobe was commissioned as part of the 2014 National Theatre Connections Festival and premiered by youth theatres across the UK. With a variety of roles for young actors, the play can be performed by a large cast of up to twenty-eight, or a smaller cast with doubling.

A collection of wide-ranging and ambitious short plays reflecting the complexities of women and political power in the United Kingdom. The five plays in this volume look at the impact and influence that women have today. In Acting Leader by Joy Wilkinson, Margaret Beckett finds herself Acting Leader of the Opposition after the sudden death of John Smith. The Panel by Zinnie Harris is about the power politics underlying the selection of any candidate. Playing the Game by Bola Agbaje is about the election of a new President of a Students' Association. In Pink by Sam Holcroft, a millionaire businesswoman is confronted by an unexpected visitor. You, Me and Wii by Sue Townsend is set in a council house in a small Leicestershire town at election time. The plays were first performed at the Tricycle Theatre, London, as part of the Women, Power and Politics season in June 2010. The other plays presented in the season are available in the companion volume, Women, Power and Politics: Then.

A dark and compelling vision of a world infected by violence. A seemingly normal detention in a seemingly normal modern-day comprehensive school. A teacher valiantly battles on with biology revision. She believes only education will set her pupils free. For outside the classroom, the world is in the middle of a long and bloody war. Despite her best efforts, the tide of conflict is soon lapping at the school gates and, one by one, pupils and teacher are pulled under as their hopes and dreams float away from them. 'Sam Holcroft is uncompromising in her ideas and deeply ambitious for the power of theatre. It's a long time since a young writer has thrilled me this much' Vicky Featherstone, director of the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Cockroach

Drawing together the work of ten leading playwrights - a mixture of established and emerging writers - this National Theatre Connections anthology is published to coincide with the 2014 festival, which takes place across the UK and finishes up at the National Theatre in London. It 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 with the young performer in mind. 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. As with previous anthologies, the volume will feature an introduction by Anthony Banks, Associate Director of 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. The National Theatre Connections series has been running for nineteen years and the anthology that accompanies it, published for the last three years by Methuen Drama, is gaining a greater profile by the year. Some iconic plays have grown out of the Connections programme including Citizenship by Mark Ravenhill, Burn by Deborah Gearing, Chatroom by Enda Walsh, Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly, and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan. The series has a recognisable brand and the anthologies continue to be an extremely useful resource, their value extending well beyond their year of publication. This year's anthology includes plays by Sabrina Mahfouz, Simon Vinnicombe, Catherine Johnson, Pauline McLynn, Dafydd James, Luke Norris and Sam Holcroft.

Double Feature brings together - in two volumes of paired short plays - four of the most exciting new voices in UK theatre, in their first commissions for the National Theatre. This volume, Double Feature: One, contains: Edgar & Annabel by Sam Holcroft An Orwellian dystopian fable about a group of freedom fighters attempting to stand up to a repressive regime, while being continuously subjected to surveillance. A young couple prepare dinner - but something isn't right. In a city not so different from our own capital, a group of freedom fighters attempts to stand up to an Orwellian establishment in increasingly perilous circumstances. The story that unfolds brings into question relationships, identities and the nature of reality itself... The Swan by D C Moore An examination of the ties that hold us together in a fractured society. In a decaying pub in South London, preparations are being made for a wake. With only an hour before their guests arrive, a family begin to settle their accounts. The ghosts of lives lived and opportunities missed are laid to rest as new and ancient betrayals are confronted and forgiven. The plays premiered in a specially converted space at the National Theatre in July 2011. They were performed alongside There is a War by Tom Basden and Nightwatchman by Prasanna Puwanarajah, published in the companion volume Double Feature: Two.