Tim Crouch

England

The author

Lewis Hetherington

Bryony Kimmings

Sara Shaarawi

Robert Softley Gale

Leyla Josephine

Six exciting new plays by some of the best artists working in the UK today written with and for young people. Created as part of Wonder Fools' international participatory project Positive Stories for Negative Times which has reached over 8000 young people from 16 different countries including UK, South Africa, India, USA, Canada, Italy and Sweden. Co-commissioned by Wonder Fools and the Traverse Theatre these six plays offer a variety of stories, styles and forms for ages 10 to 25. These original and innovative plays are: The Day the Stampers United by Sara Shaarawi Ages 12+ Ms Campbell's Class Fifth Period by Leyla Josephine Ages 14+ And The Name for That Is?... by Robert Softley Gale Ages 16+ Are You A Robot? by Tim Crouch Ages 10+ Revolting by Bryony Kimmings Ages 13+ Thanks for Nothing by The PappyShow with Lewis Hetherington Ages 11+ Positive Stories For Negative Times was initially created in response to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in creative activities due to the pandemic, and instead allowing them to come together and be inspired through making new work. The project has now grown into a programme of work that includes hundreds of participating groups across the world, a youth board who dramaturg all the commissioned plays from inception to final draft, a continuing professional development programme for group leaders and four regional Scottish youth theatre festivals taking place in summer 2023. Supported by Creative Scotland, the Gannochy Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, William Syson Foundation, Trades House of Glasgow Commonweal Fund and Gordon Fraser Foundation. www.positivestories.scot

Six Plays For Young People to Perform in Real Life or Remotely

Positive Stories For Negative Times, Volume Three

Winner of the 2010 Whiting Award for best new play.Winner of the 2010 Total Theatre Award for Innovation. Nominated in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2010. Settle back into the warmth of the theatre. Relax as the story unfolds. For you. With you. Of you. A story of hope, violence and exploitation. Laugh with the actors, tap your feet to the music, turn to your neighbour. You’re here. The Author tells the story of another play: a violent, shocking and abusive play written by a playwright called Tim Crouch and performed at the Royal Court Theatre. It charts the effect that play had on the two actors who acted in it and an audience member who watched it. The Author explores our responsibilities to what we choose to look at in the world and how we choose to act accordingly. Performed within its audience, it is a brilliantly inventive and theatrical study of what we deem acceptable in the name of Art.

The Author

"A man loses his daughter to a car. Nothing now is what it is. It's like he's in a play - but he doesn't know the words or the moves. The man who was driving the car is a stage hypnotist. Since the accident, he's lost the power of suggestion. His act's a disaster. For him, everything now is exactly what it is. For the first time since the accident, these two men meet. They meet when the Father volunteers for the Hypnotist's act. And, this time, he really doesn't know the words or the moves ..." "An Oak Tree is a play for two actors. The Father, however, is played by a different actor - male or female - at each performance. They walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they're in ... until they're in it. This is a breath-taking projection of a performance, given from one actor to another, from a hypnotist to their subject, from an audience to a person. An Oak Tree is a bold and absurdly comic play about loss, suggestion and the power of the mind."--BOOK JACKET.

An Oak Tree

'You’d like that, would you, your most private, pinkest, tenderest – small bird, small bird, small fragile – stolen from you, slammed down onto the slab, the block, poked at and paraded.’ The children swing their legs on the chairs. The student delivers the presentation. The older woman stands with the gun. The young couple arrives at the house. The house is returning to nature. A movie is being made. The truth is being plundered. But the house is still lived in and the spirit to resist is strong. Janet Adler and Margaret Gibb were conceptual artists working in New York at the end of the last century. They were described by art critic Dave Hickey as the ‘most ferociously uncompromising voice of their generation’. With Adler’s death in 2004, however, the compromise began. Adler & Gibb tells the story of a raid – on a house, a life, a reality and a legacy. The play takes Tim Crouch’s fascination with form and marries it to a thrilling story of misappropriation. Also includes what happens to the hope at the end of the evening by Tim Crouch and Andy Smith, a facsimile of the text as used in performance.

Adler & Gibb

“This brilliant collection of re-imagined stories is a perfect introduction to Shakespeare for students of all ages. They are funny, fresh, intriguing and poignant, and use a supreme storyteller’s skill to bring us into the worlds of some of Shakespeare’s best-loved characters and plays. A must for all teachers who want to excite and inspire their students about Shakespeare’s work and the possibilities of theatre.” Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Education Royal Shakespeare Company I, Shakespeare brings together Tim Crouch’s take on four Shakespeare classics: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These solo pieces are written for younger audiences but their originality and strength make them suitablefor any age. Each play in this collection combines the need to tell Shakespeare’s primary story with an opportunity for the secondary characters to finally have their say – Malvolio, Banquo, Caliban and Peaseblossom. Each play is different but all display a formal inventiveness and a philosophical playfulness that make them stand alone as brilliant examples of contemporary theatre.

I, Shakespeare

'Since your daughter's death I've not been much of a hypnotist.' A man loses his daughter to a car accident. Nothing now is what it seems. It's like he's in a play - but he doesn't know the words or the moves. The man who was driving the car is a stage hypnotist. Since the accident he's lost the power of suggestion. His act's a disaster. For him, everything now is exactly what it is. For the first time since the accident, these two men meet. They meet when the Father volunteers for the Hypnotist's act. And, this time, he really doesn't know the words or the moves... An Oak Tree is a remarkable play for two actors. The Father, however, is played by a different actor - male or female - at each performance. They walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they're in...until they're in it. This is a breath-taking projection of a performance, given from one actor to another, from a hypnotist to their subject, from an audience to a person. An Oak Tree is a bold and absurdly comic play about loss, suggestion and the power of the mind. An Oak Tree premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in August 2005.

Lucy Prebble

Inua Ellams

Tanika Gupta

Vinay Patel

Philip Ridley

Simon Stephens

Alistair McDowall

Zoe Cooper

Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

Chris Thorpe

Hannah Khalil

Edward Bond

James Graham

Sudha Bhuchar

Laura Wade

Christopher Shinn

Mojisola Adebayo

Anne Washburn

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

Theatre has a complex history of responding to crises, long before they happen. Through stage plays, contemporary challenges can be presented, explored and even foreshadowed in ways that help audiences understand the world around them. Since the theatre of the Greeks, audiences have turned to live theatre in order to find answers in uncertain political, social and economic times, and through this unique collection questions about This anthology brings together a collection of 20 scenes from 20 playwrights that each respond to the world in crisis. Twenty of the world's most prolific playwrights were asked to select one scene from across their published work that speaks to the current world situation in 2020. As COVID-19 continues to challenge every aspect of global life, contemporary theatre has long predicted a world on the edge. Through these 20 scenes from plays spanning from 1980 to 2020, we see how theatre and art has the capacity to respond, comment on and grapple with global challenges that in turn speak to the current time in which we are living. Each scene, chosen by the writer, is prefaced by an interview in which they discuss their process, their reason for selection and how their work reflects both the past and the present. From the political plays of Lucy Prebble and James Graham to the polemics of Philip Ridley and Tim Crouch. From bold works by Inua Ellams, Morgan Lloyd Malcom and Tanika Gupta to the social relevance of Hannah Khalil, Zoe Cooper and Simon Stephens this anthology looks at theatre in the present and asks the question: “how can theatre respond to a world in crisis?” The collection is prefaced by an introduction from Edward Bond, one of contemporary theatre's most prolific dramatists.

20 Scenes for the Stage in Troubled Times

Theatre in Times of Crisis

'Since your daughter's death I've not been much of a hypnotist.'A man loses his daughter to a car accident. Nothing now is what it seems. It's like he's in a play - but he doesn't know the words or the moves.The man who was driving the car is a stage hypnotist. Since the accident he's lost the power of suggestion. His act's a disaster. For him, everything now is exactly what it is. For the first time since the accident, these two men meet. They meet when the Father volunteers for the Hypnotist's act. And, this time, he really doesn't know the words or the moves...An Oak Tree is a remarkable play for two actors. The Father, however, is played by a different actor - male or female - at each performance. They walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they're in...until they're in it. This is a breath-taking projection of a performance, given from one actor to another, from a hypnotist to their subject, from an audience to a person. An Oak Tree is a bold and absurdly comic play about loss, suggestion and the power of the mind.An Oak Tree premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in August 2005.

I, Cinna (The Poet) has one short scene in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where he is mistaken for someone else and killed by the mob. Now, in a new play by Tim Crouch, this unlucky man is given a chance to tell his story. Written for ages 11+, I, Cinna (The Poet) is a fusion of theatre, multimedia and creative writing tasks. Cinna asks his young audience to consider the relationship between words and actions, art and politics, self and society. During the performance he asks us to write alongside him: a small poem on a big theme. Originally commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival which is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival. Shortlisted for the Writers' Guild Award for Theatre Play for Young People 2013.

I, Cinna (The Poet)

Jesus didn't die so we could be reborn, lady, the stars did. The writer leads his followers towards the end of this world and the start of a new one. The book he's written predicts it all – the equations, the black hole, all the words we'll speak till then. On this last day, at this last hour, a defector finds her voice and returns.

Tim Crouch

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