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A play by Willy Russell, the author of “Educating Rita” The story of two brothers born into a large working-class family and what happens when their mother decides to have one of them adopted. “Blood Brothers” looks at the differences and conflicts this produces. A thought-provoking and funny, yet tragic play. Follow-up activities. This is the non-musical stage version (73 pages)
Level: C/B.

Musical Version

In September 1941 the German scientist Heisenberg arrived in, now occupied, Denmark to give a lecture and visited his old friend and mentor Niels Bohr (who was half-Jewish). There was a long and unhappy conversation between them, during which Bohr and Heisenberg talked past each other. Their subject was the world situation in September 1941, including the possibility of the construction of an atomic reactor and, perhaps consequently, of an atomic bomb.
In Michael Frayn’s play Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, meet in another world, after death, where the three of them try to reconstruct what exactly happened between them in September 1941. The core of Frayn’s play is Uncertainty: Heisenberg's discovery of the inevitable uncertainty in our measurement of atomic particles and electrons has its parallel in the uncertainty as to motives and intentions that exists in the relationships between all human beings. Because of the complexity of the human mind, certainty in human relationships can never completely exist.
In the play Margrethe accuses Heisenberg of failing to understand their situation under a German occupation; of being willing to work for Hitler; of working on a German nuclear reactor that could be employed for the construction of a bomb; of trying to show off. To her Heisenberg is an untrustworthy student, eager to steal her husband's knowledge. To Bohr, Heisenberg is a brilliant if irresponsible foster son, whose lack of moral direction is part of his genius. Heisenberg’s dilemma (he is the man who could have built the bomb but somehow failed to do so) is at the heart of the play's conflict. He is an ambiguous figure — a nationalist not willing to renounce Germany and its horrible government, but in many respects a caring soul. Was Heisenberg blackmailing Bohr with his suggestion that the making of the bomb was after all possible? Probably not. But Heisenberg does take political considerations; which Bohr understands only too well. In the final end, though, Heisenberg is perhaps the most optimistic figure.
In their last conversation, all three of Copenhagen’s characters must accept uncertainty and that before they have found out who they really are, they have turned to dust, and that uncertainty will only end when, soon, the whole world will be “laid to dust”. The content of Copenhagen may sound rather abstract, but this is a play of real dramatic as well as philosophical power!
Contents: Michael Frayn (a chronology); Commentary (themes, characters etc. by Robert Butler — 40 pages); Copenhagen (the play — 94 pages); Postscript and Post-Postscript (by Michael Frayn — 57 pages); Notes (9 pages).
Level: A/B

Two short plays by Mark Ravenhill:
The Cut: This play is set in a distant Orwellian state where violence is sanctioned by the powers-that-be. Paul is an ordinary man with a shocking secret. At home, he is a loving husband and father with a dried out marriage. At work he is a suited government employee who administers the cut (some less than pleasant procedure used against dissidents). In a society that is now sickened by his profession, Paul struggles with his conscience and longs to tell the truth. Beneath a benign facade Paul has become evil enough to carry out barbaric acts. This is a man who has slid into the abyss on wheels greased by political euphemisms, evasions and sophistry. Things are brought to a head when one man actually seeks the cut as a means of purification and freedom.
Product: Amy is a hot young starlet. Now, all she needs is the script which will save her from B movie hell, a script which balances artistic integrity with blockbuster bucks. Mark thinks he’s got the perfect pitch — a script which combines a torrid love story with the dark spectre of terrorism and big, big explosions. If he can only persuade Amy, he's got the perfect “Product”. Ravenhill’s monologue brilliantly projects the anxieties surrounding global terrorism into the glossy and glib world of film.
Level: B

Ayub Khan-Din's bestselling play: It’s 1970 in the North of England.The Khan children are caught between their conservative Pakistani father and their tolerant English mother — and their own wish to be citizens of the modern world. Very successful on stage in England and an excellent film.(76 pages)
Level: B+C.

English glossary, introductory essay by Willy Russell, study programme.
Level: B/C

NB! This new “blue” version of Educating Rita has been modified by the author to remove some of the specifically 70s/80s references in the original version. 95% of the text is the same, but the differences in the text and the pagination make it inadvisable to use this edition with the previous editions.
A charming and popular text. The tragi-comic story of working-class Rita’s search for culture, the culture that her tutor Frank at the university has come to despise. (Samuel French udgave) (67 standard pages)
Level: B/C.

Praised as one of the most exciting new dramas of recent years, this play by Lucy Prebble charts one of the most infamous scandals in financial history. It tells of the notorious rise and fall of Enron and its founding partners Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who became reviled figures, not least for quotes such as “The only difference between me and the people judging me is they weren't smart enough to do what we did.” Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy, Enron follows a group of flawed men and women in a story of greed and loss which takes a new look at the tumultuous 1990s and uses the Enron scandal to examine some of the issues raised by the recent financial crisis — and the age of greed which preceded it. Author: Lucy Prebble. (111 pages)
Level: From the 2nd year of the Gymnasium

Longman's good edition with notes and background material. A play by Peter Shaffer: When a deranged boy, Alan Strang, blinds six horses with a metal spike he is sentenced to psychiatric treatment. Dr Dysart is the man given the task of uncovering what happened the night Strang committed his crime, but in doing so will open up his own wounds. This work uses an act of violence to explore faith and insanity.
Level: A/B

Ntozake Shange's poetic drama (or dramatic prose poem, call it what you will) has been hailed as a classic from its birth in 1975, through success on Broadway, and now to the film version (with Kimberly Ellis, Janet Jackson, Koretta Devise, Whoopi Goldberg). It has inspired audiences all over the America. The twenty “poems” about seven women reveal what it meant to be of color and female in the twentieth century. In 1975 The New Yorker praised it for “encom­passing . . . every feeling and experience a woman has ever had”. This is the complete text, with stage directions. An uncompromising, groundbreaking and passionate work. Author: Ntozake Shange. (112 pages)
Level: 2nd and 3rd Years of the Gymnasium etc.

At a boys' grammar school in Sheffield, eight boys are being coached for the Oxbridge entrance exams. It is the mid-eighties, and the main concern of the unruly bunch of bright sixth-formers is sex, sport, starting university — and starting life. At the heart of “The History Boys” are four characters, each with contrasting outlooks on teaching and school: Hector, an eccentric English teacher with no interest in exams; Irwin, a young supply teacher who sees history as 'entertainment'; Mrs. Lintott, a traditionalist, who teaches 'history, not histrionics'; and, a Headmaster obsessed with results. Staff room rivalry and the anarchy of adolescence provoke insistent questions about history and how you teach it; about education and its purpose. This play by Alan Bennett is the original stage version which premiered at the National Theatre in 2004 and won a host of awards. (109 pages + Introduction)
Level: A-B

Oscar Wilde's play. Alternative edition with good introductions (“The writer on writing”, themes etc.), English glossary and notes, lots of questions and suggestions for analysis, discussion, dramatisation, writing etc. Solid binding.
Level: B/A

Caryl Churchill turns her attention to the subject of human cloning — how might a man feel to discover that he is only one in a number of identical copies. And which one of him is the original ... ? A Number is about the three sons of Salter. There is Bernard One, aged forty, the original. He is aggressive, violent and has nightmares. Bernard Two, who is thirty five years old, exhibits no aggression but worries about being "just a copy". Michael Black, also thirty five, is from the same "batch" as Bernard Two but has been brought up by different parents. Salter was not a good father to Bernard One but, he got a chance to try again with Bernard Two, only to find that Bernard Two is also one of "a number". Salter's meetings with the original and two clones help us to understand the advantages and dangers of genetic engineering to society and the individuals involved. (50 pages)
Level: B/A

The Pulitzer Prize winning play by black New York playwright Lynn Nottage, set in present-day Africa:

How do you dramatize distant, gruesome political realities? In Ruined Lynn Nottage depicts the horrific toll sexual violence has taken on women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She balances unspeakably awful facts with the ordinary, and even hopeful in a way that increases the emotionally wrenching effect.
Mama Nadi owns a bar and poolroom staffed by waitresses who provide more than whiskey and food. It's located in a mining town, where demand for tin has escalated a brutal power struggle between various factions. Mama Nadi, a survivor and opportunist, caters not just to the miners, but to soldiers of whichever faction enters her premises. She runs a cozy little whorehouse — one of the cleanest and safest places in the area — and she’s determined to keep it that way. No bullets, no brawling, no unwashed hands and no talk of the civil war raging outside. Her determined impartiality and strict rule about guns being emptied by all who enter her little kingdom, has enabled her to control what goes on within her house, if not what happens beyond its front door. But will Mama be able to stay neutral forever? Menace overhangs life in the bar, and intensifies every time customers arrive. For the young women working here, whoring is nice work, compared with what they experienced before. Inspite of her neutrality Mama cannot remain emotionally uninvolved with the damaged girls who work for her — especially Sophie who is a victim not just of rape but mutilation, which gives her the bad luck status of a ruined girl. Lyrical written this powerful play is based on extensive interviews with Congolese women. (126 pages)
Level: 2nd and 3rd years of the Gymnasium/B-A

Now with a FREE Workbook (with a Danish glossary)!

Inside Mrs Joe Bradshaw is the former Shirley Valentine longing to get out. Her hope and self-confidence badly shattered by school, marriage and life, she is reduced to talking to the kitchen wall whilst preparing her husband’s evening meal. As she sips a glass of wine she dreams of drinking in a country where the grape is grown. A friend offers her a holiday in Greece and, with great trepidation and a lot of forward planning, Shirley seizes opportunity — and falls in love with life. (46 standard pages)
Level: from end of C/B.

Raymond Briggs' stage version of his anti-nuclear cartoon. (46 pages)
Level: C/B

Now with a FREE Workbook (with a Danish glossary)!

A black comedy, a great play for discussion. The story of sculptor Ken Harrison who is totally paralysed after an accident. He is still witty and intelligent...and he wants to die, but the hospital establishment won’t let him. (Samuel French -udgave)(OBS! 51 standard pages)
Level: from end of C/B.

Terrence Rattigan’s play from 1946 is set in the period just before the First World War. 14-year-old Ronnie Winslow has been sent home from Naval College accused of stealing a postal order. His father vows to prove his innocence in the court. The play is held together by the tension of the court case and the fight for the rights of the individual against the growing power of the state. But it is also very much an open-minded picture of the social attitude of the time: the class differences, the shadow of the approaching war, the tensions greated by the growing influence of the unions, sufragettes etc.
Level: A/B