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.

Theatre in Times of Crisis: 20 Scenes for the Stage in Troubled Times

Literature & Fiction

Washburn, Anne

McDowall, Alistair

Ya-Chu Cowhig, Frances

Stephens, Simon

Wade, Laura

Thorpe, Chris

Bhatti, Gurpreet Kaur

Bond, Edward

Gupta, Tanika

Crouch, Tim

Adebayo, Mojisola

Ridley, Philip

Graham, James

Shinn, Christopher

Ellams, Inua

Prebble, Lucy

Malcolm, Morgan Lloyd

Patel, Vinay

Khalil, Hannah

Bhuchar, Sudha

Cooper, Zoe

Dramas & Plays

Methuen Drama

Five exciting new plays for young people written specifically in response to a world in the midst of a pandemic, accompanied by a handbook from Wonder Fools theatre company with guidance for staging the plays either online or live in the space.Commissioned as part of Wonder Fools' national participatory project Positive Stories for Negative Times, these five plays offer a variety of stories, styles and forms for ages 8-25. These original and innovative plays are:Is This A Fairytale? by Bea WebsaterA new play that rips apart the traditional fairy tale canon and turns it on its head in a surprising, inventive and unconventional way. Ages 8+Hold Out Your Hand by Chris ThorpeA dynamic text asking questions about place, where we are now and the moment we are living through. Ages 13+The Pack by Stef SmithA playful and poetic exploration about getting lost in the loneliness of your living room and trying to find your way home. Ages 13+Ozymandias by Robbie Gordon and Jack NurseA contemporary story inspired by Percy Shelley's 19th century poem of the same name, exploring power, oppression and racism through the eyes of young people. Ages 16+Bad Bored Women of the Rooms by Sabrina MahfouzA storytelling adventure through the centuries of women and girls who have spent a lot of time stuck in a room. Ages 18+The accompanying handbook includes step-by-step guidance on how to produce the plays either online or live in the space, and bespoke exercises and instructions on how to approach directing each play.

Positive Stories For Negative Times: Five Plays For Young People to Perform in Real Life or Remotely

Smith, Stef

Mahfouz, Sabrina

Webster, Bea

Nurse, Jack

Gordon, Robbie

When life offers you a choice between heroism and compromise, what happens? Sometimes planes don’t land the way they’re supposed to. The people of a country have had enough of their leaders, but those leaders have to be replaced with something. A person steps out of a crowd and, for a moment, becomes more than human. A man walks into the lobby of a building and brings death with him to prove his point. "Utterly compelling. It gnaws at our ideas of heroism and compromise, individual and collective action, and those small acts of choosing and not choosing that either pass unnoticed or send ripples around the world." - Guardian "Hypnotic. An astonishingly sharp piece." - The Stage "From electrifying writing and performances to serious ethical confrontation in one hour... both profoundly satisfying and deeply unsettling at once." - What's On Stage "Chris Thorpe’s new poetry play is an oblique, unsettling work that feels like it’s come quietly out of nowhere to crawl almost to the heart of the current political theatre zeitgeist." - Time Out "The poetry and gorgeous images entangled in There Has Possibly Been An Incident also encourage us to think differently, to pull out important, impossible details and make them into something bigger." - A Younger Theatre

There Has Possibly Been An Incident (Oberon Modern Plays)

Oberon Books

Winner of Scotsman Fringe First Award, 2014Confirmation is a show about the gulf between beliefs that we can’t talk across. About our knee-jerk dismissal of the opposing viewpoint. About the echo chamber of agreement and validation we live in. About the way we choose only to see the evidence that proves we’re right.A new solo show from a multi Fringe First winning team: written and performed by Chris Thorpe (Unlimited Theatre, Third Angel), developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin (The TEAM).

Confirmation (Oberon Modern Plays)

Euripides' story of a father moved to murder his daughter is one that has been reinvented and retold anew throughout history. The Iphigenia Quartet includes four responses to this classical tragedy—each play a reimagining of this story of familial catastrophe from the differing perspectives of the key characters in the drama: Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia, and the Chorus.

The Iphigenia Quartet (Oberon Modern Plays)

BIRD, Caroline

El-Bushra, Suhayla

Raczka, Lulu

This worship collection for Lent, Holy Week and Easter brims with unique liturgies, prayers and resources for the most important season of the Christian year. Chris Thorpe offers complete outlines for a variety of services, including: - Dust and Ashes: living mindfully on Ash Wednesday; - Who am I? Temptations for today; - Mothering God: being there no matter what; - Wilderness: desolation and consolation in the empty places; - Holy Week services on the call to follow Jesus; - Learning to see again: the world made new at Easter; - Into the Deep: daring to journey into the unknown. He also offers advice on using space, silence and lighting creatively to bring the central stories of the Christian faith to life.

Apprentices and Eyewitnesses: Creative Liturgies for Incarnational Worship: Lent, Holy Week and Easter

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Canterbury Press Norwich

From cover to cover, this book is full of imaginative, read-to-use liturgies, prayers and service outlines for the Christian year from one of the most creative and poetic voices in the church today. This collection includes themed complete worship outlines for: - Pentecost: finding a language of love in a world of strangers and restoring community; - Trinity: knowing that we belong and are loved; - Ordinary Time: journeying in faith, venturing out, encountering storms, not losing heart, replenishing our resources; - Transfiguration: seeing heaven in the everyday; - Harvest: fruitfulness in unexpected places; - All Saints and All Souls: expressing our grief, joyful remembrance, finding light in the darkness.

Dancers and Wayfarers: Creative Liturgies for Incarnational Worship: Pentecost to Christ the King

The annual celebrations of Plough Sunday, Rogation and Harvest are hugely important for churches serving rural communities and are a key way for those churches to engage in mission, usually seeing congregations swell at such times. Ploughshares and First Fruits draws on the inspired work being done by one rural church to celebrate rural living throughout the year and thereby grow its congregation. As well as providing many fresh ideas for keeping the established festivals, it provides ready-to-use, participative liturgies that engage all the senses, appeal to all ages and give small churches a round-the-year resource. Included are creative liturgies for: * A pet service for the Feast of St Francis* Walking and pilgrimage * Lambing season* Riders' Sunday * Lammas * A Summer Festival (an instant jam-jar flower festival)

Ploughshares and First Fruits: A Year of Festivals for the Rural Church

“A thousand people are taking a sip of coffee within the city limits of Johannesburg, each unaware of the other doing it, each one necessarily thinking they are the only one.” An attempt to get to grips with the fact that everything happens at once. And to see if there’s anything we can do about it. “Find the connection between where you are and where I am. Open up the space between us and do something.”

Victory Condition (Oberon Modern Plays)

One woman attempts to articulate her experience of physicalpain. Pain with no apparent cause. Also, she's met someone,and they want to make this work. Words, light and an original sound score collide in a new piece from this Scotsman Fringe First award-winning team - exploring life in extremity, and the joy that can be found there

The Shape of the Pain (Oberon Modern Plays)

Bagshaw, Rachel

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Books by Thorpe, Chris