"I'm not a king or a Wizard... but I do have a story to tell." Meet Ben Bundle. He likes shing and snorkelling, jumping o rocks and exploring the magical island of Bryher with his friends. But after an accident leaves Bun blind, he fears his days of adventure are over. Until one day he is swept into the realm of his favourite story, the ancient legend of King Arthur, and Bun's world changes forever. Get ready for a gripping adventure where a broken promise, a magic sword and a ghostly king reveal to Bun a life-changing quest of his own. A tale about magic, mystery, hope, love, triumph and disaster, The Sleeping Sword weaves a contemporary tale of self-discovery with Arthurian legend in a way that is utterly spellbinding.

This anthology, the fifth from Nick Hern Books, comprises five of the best plays from VAULT Festival 2020, London's biggest and most exciting arts festival. Something Awful by Tatty Hennessy is a thrilling play inspired by the true-crime story of the Slenderman. Soph and her best friend Jel love scary stories and hunt for the best online. But then new girl Ellie turns up at school with one of her own. Second Home by Charlotte Chimuanya explores the experiences of growing up mixed-race in twenty-first century Ireland. Naomi is trying to mend her broken heart. But will tackling grief and racism in a place she calls home prove to be the final betrayal? Madame Ovary by Rosa Hesmondhalgh tells the heartbreaking and hilarious true story of Rosa's own ovarian cancer. This five-star sell-out Edinburgh hit is a life-affirming monologue exploring the typical struggles of staying relevant, with the less typical struggles of staying alive. Take Care by Zoe Templeman-Young and Sam McLaughlin follows the real-life story of Pam, a woman struggling to move her mother into a care home that's closer to her. An award-winning Edinburgh smash, it is an astonishing, tragic and uplifting verbatim play about the care system in the UK today. Heroes by Isabel Dixon is a poignant exploration of fallen idols, family secrets and the human price of forgiveness. Set across two timelines, it is the tense and sensitive story of a family torn apart by an unforgiveable act.

'It's a bit weird to be sitting at the Arctic Circle chatting to a fit boy with your dad's ashes in your backpack.' Rory's dad was an explorer. Well, not literally. Literally, he was a geography teacher. But inside, she knows, he was Bear Grylls. And when he dies suddenly in an accident, Rory knows she needs to make one last expedition. With a plastic compass and Dad's ashes at her side, Rory sets off in the footsteps of all the dead beardy explorers before her, to get Dad to the North Pole. Before Mum finds out they've gone. Tatty Hennessy's play A Hundred Words for Snow is about being an explorer in a melting world. It's a coming-of-age story. With polar bears. The play won the Heretic Voices Monologue Competition and was first produced at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2018. A new production was performed at the 2018 VAULT Festival, where it was the winner of a VAULT Origins Award for outstanding new work from the VAULT Festival. It then toured the UK, with a run at the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End in 2019. This edition also includes the diary of her research trip to the Arctic Circle, and the short play Distant Early Warning, set in 2053 in what was once Greenland.