Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity, with themes of contemporary resonance: racism, homophobia, and how those in authority distort both the truth and the past. This play is Philip Ridley's most direct representation yet of his hopes and fears for disadvantaged, diverse communities of today's society, as two groups of teenagers are forced to judge for themselves the prejudices and preconceptions of their parents. This is a vital, relevant and compelling story for the whole country and especially young people from all backgrounds. The plot follows Curtis, who has arranged a secret meeting in a flat of a derelict tower block. Years ago, when he was a child, Curtis lived here before tragedy struck in the form of his elder brother's death. Now Curtis is seeing his brother's ghost. With the aid of Gavin and Tommy, fellow members of the right wing political party of which he is a leading figure, and his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, Curtis aims to find out why this ghost is haunting him. Things, however, do not go as planned and a hitherto secret story has to be revealed. A story that will change Curtis's life forever.

Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Men aims to provide new and exciting audition and showcase material for actors of black, African American, South Asian and Middle Eastern heritage. Featuring the work of international contemporary playwrights who have written powerful and diverse roles for a range of actors, the collection is edited by Simeilia Hodge-Dallaway. Categorized by age-range, the monologues are collected in groups of characters playable by actors in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties+, and include work from over 25 top-class dramatists including Lemn Sissay, Katori Hall, Rajiv Joseph, Philip Ridley and Naomi Wallace. Audition Speeches for Black, South Asian and Middle Eastern Actors: Monologues for Men is the go-to resource for contemporary monologues and speeches for auditions. Ideal for aspiring and professional actors, it allows performers to enhance their particular strengths and prepare for roles featuring characters of specific ethnic backgrounds.

Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity, with themes of contemporary resonance: racism, homophobia, and how those in authority distort both the truth and the past. This play is Philip Ridley's most direct representation yet of his hopes and fears for disadvantaged, diverse communities of today's society, as two groups of teenagers are forced to judge for themselves the prejudices and preconceptions of their parents. This is a vital, relevant and compelling story for the whole country and especially young people from all backgrounds. The plot follows Curtis, who has arranged a secret meeting in a flat of a derelict tower block. Years ago, when he was a child, Curtis lived here before tragedy struck in the form of his elder brother's death. Now Curtis is seeing his brother's ghost. With the aid of Gavin and Tommy, fellow members of the right wing political party of which he is a leading figure, and his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, Curtis aims to find out why this ghost is haunting him. Things, however, do not go as planned and a hitherto secret story has to be revealed. A story that will change Curtis's life forever.

It's at times like this I'm inspired by The Stupendous Santini. He toured the mid-West during the 1930s, entertaining farmers affected by the Dust Bowl. No one would have remembered him were in not for the fact that during his most famous trick – sword swallowing – he accidentally punctured a lung and died on the spot. He became a legend. Donny has committed an act that shocked everyone. Tabloids called him The Most Hated Boy Alive. But Donny doesn't want forgiveness. All Donny wants is . . . his own television show. Written by internationally acclaimed writer Philip Ridley, Tonight With Donny Stixx is the companion piece to Ridley's 2013 Fringe First-winner Dark Vanilla Jungle, and received its premiere at the Soho Theatre, London, on 27 July 2015 before premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary British Playwrights is an authoritative guide to the work of twenty-five playwrights who have risen to prominence since the 1980s. Written by an international team of scholars, it will be invaluable to anyone interested in, studying or teaching contemporary drama. Among the many playwrights whose work is examined are Sarah Daniels, Terry Johnson, Martin Crimp, Sarah Kane, Anthony Neilson, Mark Ravenhill, Simon Stephens, Debbie Tucker Green, Tanika Gupta and Richard Bean. Each essay features: A biographical sketch and introduction to the playwright A discussion of their most important plays An analysis of their stylistic and thematic traits, the critical reception and their place in the discourses of British theatre A bibliography of texts and critical material

'That's the way it works in this family. Believe what you wanna believe. Twist this. Ignore the other. That's how we survive.' Steven has always tried to be a good person. He works hard. He looks after his family. But, suddenly, everyone starts accusing him of things. His wife accuses him of being unfaithful. His mother accuses him of being coercive. And his brother, Barry, accuses him of...what exactly? Barry won't say. Or can't. Or perhaps... Steven hasn't done anything at all. Following its critically acclaimed premiere at Soho Theatre in 2007, Philip Ridley's gripping narrative of memory, manipulation, and power – now regarded as a modern classic – returns in a new production by long-time collaborators, Lidless Theatre. This edition was published alongside the production at the Park Theatre, London, in May 2023.

For the first time, there is an anthology of monologues for young people available, taken from plays commissioned as part of the National Theatre Connections over the past 20 years. Always drawing together the work of 10 leading playwrights – a mixture of established and current writers – the annual National Theatre Connections anthologies offer young performers between the ages of 13 and 19 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. This anthology of 100 monologues is the ideal resource for teenagers and young people attending auditions either in the amateur or professional theatre world; students leaving secondary school to audition for drama school; as well as teachers of English and Drama looking for suitable dramatic for their students to engage with and perform. It provides suitable scene-study books that are suitable and relevant to the student in terms of tone, style and content. Young actors who have searched for audition material written in the voice of teenage characters will welcome this resource.

It was a very hot day – dazzling sunshine! – and Mum – she was wiping sweat from her neck. No, not wiping. Dabbing . . . Dab . . . Dab. Mum was a beauty. Not like me. And don't tell me I am because you'll be lying and I won't thank you for it. Not today. Not when this whole thing – us, here - is about me telling the truth. The latest from Philip Ridley is a beautiful, breathtaking new drama about one girl's craving for family and home, and the lengths she will go to achieve them. Dark Vanilla Jungle embarked on a national tour of Great Britain in spring 2014. This edition also features a selection of previously unpublished monologues by Philip Ridley alongside the play.

British theatre of the 1990s witnessed an explosion of new talent and presented a new sensibility that sent shockwaves through audiences and critics. What produced this change, the context from which the work emerged, the main playwrights and plays, and the influence they had on later work are freshly evaluated in this important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series. The 1990s volume provides a detailed study by four scholars of the work of four of the major playwrights who emerged and had a significant impact on British theatre: Sarah Kane (by Catherine Rees), Anthony Neilson (Patricia Reid), Mark Ravenhill (Graham Saunders) and Philip Ridley (Aleks Sierz). Essential for students of Theatre Studies, the series of six decadal volumes provides a critical survey and study of the theatre produced from the 1950s to 2009. Each volume features a critical analysis of the work of four key playwrights besides other theatre work, together with an extensive commentary on the period. Readers will understand the works in their contexts and be presented with fresh research material and a reassessment from the perspective of the twenty-first century. This is an authoritative and stimulating reassessment of British playwriting in the 1990s.

This collection brings together Philip Ridley's one-act plays for young people, known as The Storyteller Sequence, ideal for teenagers to either watch or perform. Karamazoo is a fifteen-minute monologue about one of the coolest, most popular kids in the school, whose recent increase in popularity is the direct result of a character make-over following the death of a parent. A witty and moving performance piece for the teenage actor. Fairytaleheart features two fifteen-year-olds, Kirsty and Gideon, who meet for the first time and come to terms with their broken families by sharing their hopes, fears and past experiences - as well as stories - in a derelict community centre. Sparkleshark tells of fourteen-year-old Jake - a victim of bullying and other teenager's mockery - who has to take refuge on the roof of a tower block in order to write his stories. Moonfleece sees Curtis, a young right-wing activist, arrange a meeting in a flat of a derelict tower block where he lived as a child. But his older brother's ghost keeps haunting him. Moonfleece is an intense and thrilling exploration of memory and identity. Brokenville features an unknown disaster, which has left seven characters with little knowledge of who they are or of what has happened. As an old woman and five teenagers begin to act out stories for a mute and frightened child, they begin to discover a little of who they were and what they can be.