Other books that might interest you

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  Stone Cold Dead Serious - And...

  Adam Rapp

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  A collection of plays from Pulitzer Prize finalist Adam Rapp, "one of the more daring young stylists working today" (Time Out New York)Adam Rapp's plays have captivated audiences across the country with their unflinching explorations of the good, the bad, and the ugly in America's heartland and cities. Gathered here are three of his works: Faster, in which two young grifters try to strike a deal with the devil during the hottest summer on record; Finer Noble Gases, a lament for a band of arrested thirty-year-olds slouching toward adulthood amid East Village decay; and the Off-Broadway hit Stone Cold Dead Serious. An honest, strange, and humorous look at a blue-collar family struggling to survive in the face of disability and addiction, and the seemingly surreal lengths their teenage son will go to save them from themselves."Rapp is very gifted, and, even rarer, he has something to say . . . Stone Cold Dead Serious [is] brave, compassionate, and . . . breathtakingly moving." -(New York Times)

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  The Dust of Everyday Life - An...

  Jana Harris

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  Spanning the years 1853–1933—beginning with conveyance by oxcart and ending with air travel—this series of dramatic monologues tells the story of Helen Walsh and Thomas Hodgson, whose families trekked the trails of the great migration to the West. Helen and Thomas get married, and together, tame the remote corners of the wilderness by means of their imperishable love and a clear, well-beaten path.

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  Grotty & Brute: Two Plays (NHB...

  Izzy Tennyson

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  Two unflinching plays from exciting new writer and performer, Izzy Tennyson.
  Grotty is a dark and savage exploration of the London lesbian scene. A couple of little sad old basements that drip with sweat and piss, with second-hand noise pulsating from some gay-boy night upstairs. The women sit there in their uniformed black… and they are looking at you. They are not nice girls. But Grotty is not a nice story.
  The piece was premiered by Damsel Productions at The Bunker, London, in May 2018.
  Solo show Brute tells the true story of a rather twisted schoolgirl. Poppy's just started at an all-girls state school in a provincial English town, where there are rules with no logic, sadistic jokes that aren't actually funny, and the most sinister games played out of boredom.
  Brute won the 2015 IdeasTap Underbelly Award, had a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and transferred to Soho Theatre with Damsel Productions in 2016.

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  The Apple Anthology

  George Ttoouli

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  Runner-Up for Best Anthology in the 2014 Saboteur Awards.
  The Apple Anthology is a rich harvest of new, recent and ancient poetry, prose and visual art from a global array of writers, artists and scientists.
  The Anthology tells the story of how apples migrated from Northeast China to Europe, how to make zyder and why apples are such potent symbols of beauty, temptation
  
  and sexuality. Here you will encounter an apple clock, fruity surrealism, apples from Chernobyl and a tree called Camilla.
  You will meet King Byerd, Lady Henniker, The Bloody Ploughman, Pig's Snout, Slack Ma Girdle and countless other characterful apple varieties.
  
  Pushing the boundaries of genre and subject specialism, all of these creations look at apples in new, challenging and surprising ways.
  With a foreword by David Morley, contributions from members of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, and a range of intellectuals, creators and collagists, The Apple Anthology is bursting with flavour and delight.
  This book is also available as a eBook. Buy it from Amazon here.

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  War and Peace (NHB Modern Plays)

  Leo Tolstoy

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  A magnificent two-play epic, adapted from Tolstoy's novel and first staged by Shared Experience.
  One of the longest novels in Western literature, Tolstoy's War and Peace intertwines its epic account of Napoleon's invasion of Russia with the tale of three aristocratic families.
  Painted on a vast canvas of locations, characters and experiences, Helen Edmundson's stirring adaptation is an intricate saga of families, love and friendship against a backdrop of war.
  Helen Edmundson's earlier, one-part adaptation of War and Peace was staged by Shared Experience at the National Theatre in 1996.
  'triumphant... what a remarkable, unmissable achievement this is... Shared Experience's approach is so fluid and fresh it can only reinvigorate your appreciation of the book' - Telegraph

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  The Bhakti Poet Saints

  Mirabai, Kabir, Guru Nanak

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  Whilst Europe endured the Dark Ages in the 6th & 7th Centuries devotees of Shiva and Vishnu in Southern India were creating the Bhakti Movement.  Some of these exponents, as in our volume, were bestowed with the title of saint but some had the additional title of sant, swami or goswami. 
   
  Broadly speaking, Bhakti poetry, as in Hinduism itself, is divided into ‘Nirguna’, the idea that the divine is formless as exampled by Kabir and ‘Saguna’ which interprets the divine as having physical form as captured by Mirabai.  
   
  The rapid spread, of the Bhakti movement, with its theme of love and devotion to God, proffered by these rebellious poet saints, did, over the following centuries, meld with much needed Hindu reforms and went to the heart of human existence.  These ‘God possessing’ rather than ‘God fearing’ poets rejected hierarchies and intermediaries in their spiritual devotion and were critical of rules, regulations and ritual observances administered by Brahmin priests in the sacred but elitist court and temple Sanskrit.   
   
  Their poems, in their local language, emphasised personal devotion as a route to salvation with kind deeds and a humble life rather than ritual mediation, stretched the fabric of society.  They were all from lower castes and many were women giving the movement an egalitarian spirit that helped reinforce the message that god’s love was all-encompassing for every person willing to surrender to the divine.   
   
  Furthermore, their verse was accessible, simple, innovative with new poetic forms and often expressed in songs with a fierce passion and ecstasy that demonstrated the movement’s focus on inner, mystical and authentic devotion and humility.  Impromptu performances with provocative outbursts of singing and dancing in unconventional settings or public gatherings evolved into poetic presentations and community recitals as the rapid popularity of the movement spread.  Although the language is every day and simple, many verses carry undercurrents of complex ideas, philosophical and psychological dilemmas, nuance and humour. 
  1 - The Bhakti Poet Saints - An Introduction 
  2 - His Ears Ringeth by Sambandar 
  3 - Thiruppavi (An Extract) by Andal 
  4 - Tiruvasiriyam by Nammalvar 
  5 - Navada Bhakti in An Untainted Heart by Gangasati 
  6 - Show Me Your Way Out by Akka Mahadevi 
  7 - Would A Circling Surface Vulture by Akka Mahadevi 
  8 - The True Name is Like Sandalwood by Namdev 
  9 - Amrutanubhav (An Extract) by Dnyaneshwar 
  10 - Vakh - If in the Flux of Time by Lal Ded 
  11 - Vakh - They Who Have Gained Experience by Lal Ded 
  12 - Acceptance by Janabai 
  13 - Where Shall I Go by Ramananda 
  14 - Vaishnav by Narsinh Mehta 
  15 - Pointless It Is To Lament by Narsinh Mehta 
  16 - Illusion and Reality by Kabir 
  17 - Song 6 - The Moon by Kabir 
  18 - I Laugh When I Hear That the Fish in the Water is Thirsty by Kabir 
  19 - It is the Mercy of My True Guru by Kabir 
  20 - Song 1 - Oh Servant Where Dost Thou Seek Me by Kabir 
  21 - Song 69 - If God Be Within the Mosque by Kabir 
  22 - The Light of the Sun by Kabir 
  23 - You Are Me and I Am You by Ravidas 
  24 - The Name Alone Is The Truth by Ravidas 
  25 - How to Escape by Ravidas 
  26 - Dhanasri Measure by Guru Nanak 
  27 - Gauri Dipaki Measure by Guru Nanak 
  28 - Shikshashtakam by Chaitanya 
  29 - Mine is Gopal by Mirabai 
  30 - Beloved Mohan by Mirabai 
  31 - Mira is Steadfast by Mirabai 
  32 - I Will Sing the Praises by Mirabai 
  33 - O Deluded Ones by Mirabai 
  34 - Enjoy the Company of True Saints by Mirabai 
  35 - Listen by Mirabai 
  36 - Sister Without the Lord I Cannot Carry On by Mirabai 
  37 - Hanuman Chalisa by Tulsidas 
  38 - To Arrange Words by Tu

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