Contemporary English Plays: Edens Empire; Alaska; Shades; A Day at the Racists; The Westbridge

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Edited and introduced by leading cultural and theatre critic Aleks Sierz, this bold and urgent collection of contemporary plays by England's newest and most relevant young writers explores the various cultures and identities of a nation that is at once traditional, nationalistic and multicultural. Eden's Empire, by James Graham is an uncompromising political thriller exploring the events of the Suez Crisis, and the tragic story of its flawed hero Churchill's golden boy and heir apparent, Anthony Eden. Alaska, by D. C. Moore features Frank, an ordinary bloke who likes smoking, history and playing House of the Dead 3. He can put up with his job on a cinema kiosk until a new supervisor arrives who is younger than him. And Asian. A Day at the Racists, by Anders Lustgarten is a timely examination of the rise of the BNP which attempts to understand why people might be drawn to the BNP and diagnoses the deeper cause of that attraction. Shades, by Alia Bano shows Sabrina, a single girl-about-town, who is seeking Mr Right in a world where traditional and liberal values sit side-by-side, but rarely see eye-to-eye. The Westbridge, by Rachel De-lahay begins with the accusation of a black teenager which sparks riots on South London streets. Among it all, a couple from very different backgrounds navigate the minefield between them and their disparate but coexisting neighbourhood.

Reviews

Graham's play is both a dramatic piece of living history and a timely demonstration of the danger of allowing foreign policy to be dictated by a prime minister who flagrantly flouts international law. * Michael Billington, Guardian, on Eden's Empire *
The measure of DC Moore's quality as a writer is his ability to garner sympathy for this immensely dislikeable university drop-out. * The British Theatre Guide on Alaska *
Boasting the digestibility of a rom-com and the roughage of an issues drama, Alia Bano's tale of London Muslims looking for love is a superb start to the Royal Court's Young Writers Festival ... Like most good rom-com folk, Bano's characters are smart, headstrong, witty and self-aware. That they happen to be both united and divided by their background gives Bano her story ... The play's great achievement is to be engagingly irreverent while knowing that irreverence can be an orthodoxy too ... Reza ... says he resents being asked to choose between Britishness and being a Muslim. Such sentiments have been expressed before, but rarely with the propulsive plotting, inspiring intelligence and light touch of this hugely enjoyable play * Dominic Maxwell, The Times on Shades *
must-see for anyone concerned about the threat of extreme nationalism and curious to explore the context behind that threat. * whatsonstage.com on A Day at the Racists *
This thrilling debut play by Rachel De-lahay plugs straight into the jittery heart of multicultural London today ... De-lahay has an alert ear for comic dialogue and her portrait of mixed-race, upwardly mobile twentysomethings on the estate one character works in PR, another is an aspiring model crackles with wit as well as moments of deep emotion. The play raises the provocative question of whether it is possible to shrug off the fraught issue of racial identity ... Its a play that combines sharp one-liners with a savvy sense of the way we live now ... One leaves the theatre impatient to discover what Rachel De-lahay will come up with next. * Telegraph, on The Westbridge *

Author Bio

Aleks Sierz FRSA is Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College, London, UK, and author of In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today, John Osborne's Look Back in Anger, Rewriting the Nation: British Theatre Today and Modern British Playwriting: The 1990s. He also works as a journalist, broadcaster, lecturer and theatre critic. James Graham won the Catherine Johnson Award for the Best Play 2007 for Eden's Empire. His previous plays include Albert's Boy (recipient of a Pearson Playwriting Bursary) Little Madam (Finborough), Tory Boyz (Soho Theatre), The Man (Finborough), The Whisky Taster (Bush), Sons of York (Finborough) suddenlossofdignity.com (Bush) and This House (National Theatre). James is writer-in-residence at the Finborough Theatre and also writes for TV and film. D.C Moore was born in 1980 in Duston, Northamptonshire. He took part in the Royal Court's Young Writer's Programme and his first full length play Alaska was produced there in 2007. In 2008 Alaska was awarded the Tom Erhardt Award for promising new playwright by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. Moore's other plays include The Empire (2010), Honest (2010), Town (2010) and The Swan (2011). Anders Lustgarten is Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre, where his first two plays, The Insurgents (2007) and Enduring Freedom (2008), were produced. Other work includes The Punishment Stories, (shortlisted for the 2007 Verity Bargate Award), an adaptation of Slawomir Mrozek's The Police (BAC 2007), The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie (2010) for the National Theatre Studio and If You Don't Let Us Dream Then We Won't Let You Sleep (Royal Court, 2013). Anders is a political activist, has taught on Death Row, been arrested by the Turkish secret police, and holds a PhD in Chinese politics from the University of California. He also won the inaugural Harold Pinter Playwrights Award with a commission from the Royal Court in 2011. Alia Bano studied English at Queen Mary, University of London, and taught A Level and GCSE English in Haringey. She joined the Royal Court's Young Writers' Programme in 2004. Her early work was read at Theatre Royal, Stratford East during the BritAsia Festival in 2005. She was subsequently invited to join Soho Theatre's Core Writing Group, and took part in the Royal Court's Unheard Voices programme in 2008. Her work for the stage includes Behind the Image, Gap, Hens, Rough Cuts, and Shades. Rachel De-lahay's first full-length play, The Westbridge, was the joint-winner of the 2010 Alfred Fagon Award and was produced in Autumn 2011 in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre. She subsequently won the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Awards after the success of her play Routes.