Poliakoff Plays: 2

Poliakoff Plays: 2
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Total Pages: 424
Release: 1994-08-30
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

The second volume of Poliakoff's plays in the Methuen Contemporay Dramatists series contains his film-script, Century, together with She's Been Away (filmed by Peter Hall with Peggy Ashcroft), and the stage plays for the RSC, Breaking the Silence and Playing with Trains.

Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen

Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen
Author: Robin Nelson
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2014-03-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1408131099

Over four decades, Stephen Poliakoff has proved himself to be a distinctive dramatist in the mediums of theatre, film and television. Moving from playwright to television and film director, he has been hailed as 'TV's foremost writer' (Independent) and as 'one of our most poetic and best TV dramatists' (Daily Telegraph). In the USA, his TV 'films' have received industry acclaim, The Lost Prince winning three Emmy Awards and Gideon's Daughter two Golden Globes. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of Poliakoff's work for stage and screen and a framework for its critical evaluation. It will prove invaluable to students of theatre, film, and television studies. Robin Nelson locates Poliakoff's distinctive vision and fierce independence as a writer and director in both personal and public histories and against industry contexts. He charts Poliakoff's 'meteoric rise' as a playwright, and his 'second starburst' in television drama since Shooting the Past (1999) which re-affirmed his reputation as a dramatist of distinction. While the chronology of Poliakoff's impressive output is clearly laid out, works are discussed in thematic clusters ranging across mediums to afford a fresh perspective. The book covers 'issue dramas', 'quirky strong women' and 'histories/memories' as well as Poliakoff's early developing dramaturgy, and it examines in detail the later feature films and television dramas which have secured his reputation as our most distinctive television dramatist.

Playing with Trains

Playing with Trains
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
Total Pages: 124
Release: 1989
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

By the author of "Breaking Silence", this play is an exploration of a controversial figure of the modern age, the millionaire entrepreneur. Bill Galpin is an ambitious man, eager to exploit British inventiveness, yet his increasing power and wealth alienate his supporters and bring danger.

Poliakoff Plays: 3

Poliakoff Plays: 3
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Total Pages: 326
Release: 1998-05-07
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

The third volume of Poliakoff's plays in the Methuen Contemporary Dramatists series contains his award-winning screenplays, Caught on a Train (BAFTA for Best Single Play, 1980), and Close My Eyes (Evening Standard Best Picture of 1991), and the play Coming in to Land.

Ridley Plays: 2

Ridley Plays: 2
Author: Philip Ridley
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2013-06-13
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1472517369

This second volume of Ridley's stage plays confirms him as one of the most imaginative, daring and unique voices currently working in theatre. All four plays collected here resonant with Ridley's trademark themes - East London, storytelling, moments of shocking violence, memories of the past, fantastical monologues, and that strange mix of the barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own. Vincent River: '... a grieving mother and a traumatized teenager meet as adversaries, rough each other up and eventually bond over a barbaric act of cruelty...Ridley asks questions, lots of them, about how people respond to the loss of innocence in their lives, how they hold onto their sanity in the face of savagery and how they fight to keep the bonds of humanity intact in a mad, mad world.' Variety Mercury Fur: '...depicts a scary, post-apocalyptic London where, in their struggle to survive, a group of youths are reduced to organising parties that cater for the most perverted tastes.' Independent Leaves of Glass: 'There is a different kind of murder going on here: the murder of truth that goes on in all families to a lesser or greater degree. As with nations, a family's history is written by the victors.' Guardian Piranha Heights: 'The extravagance of Ridley's dark vision suggests a dangerously confused society in which individuals seize on random gobbets of semi-digested information and use them to construct their own personal narrative.' The Times

Hitting Town and City Sugar

Hitting Town and City Sugar
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
Total Pages: 156
Release: 1978
Genre: Drama
ISBN:

'Hitting town' opens with Ralph, a student drop-out from Birmingham University, dropping in unexpectedly on his sister, Clare, in her Leicester bed-sit. Together they decide to 'hit the town'. But against a background of commercial radio, city-centre precincts, Wimpy Bars and dangerous practical jokes, the incestuous relationship that develops between them seems the only way of affirming their vitality... | 'City sugar', a companion piece, focuses on Leonard Brazil, the local disc-jockey heard briefly in the first play, as he dispenses milk chocolate pap over the Leicester air-waves. The worlds of commercial radio and teeny-boppers collide with the mounting of the grotesque Competition of the Century, into which Brazil pours all his self-haltred and his contempt for his Miss Average Listener.

Dancing on the Edge

Dancing on the Edge
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 508
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 140818592X

Set in a time of immense change, Dancing on the Edge tells the story of a black jazz group, the Louis Lester Band, as they rise to fame, entertaining guests at exclusive high society gatherings in 1930s London. While many recoil at the presence of black musicians in polite society, the capital's more progressive socialites, including younger members of the Royal Family, take the band under their wing. In this explosive five-part series, Stephen Poliakoff returns to television with his most ambitious work to date. Dancing on the Edge provides a new angle on an extraordinary time in history, giving us a piercingly original vision of Britain in the 1930s; a time of glamour, hardship, vibrant new music and financial meltdown. Combining the rich characterisation of Shooting The Past with the epic sweep of The Lost Prince and inspired by true stories of the era, Dancing on the Edge was produced by Ruby Film and Television for BBC2. Also included is the innovative epilogue to the whole drama, Interviewing Louis, where music journalist Stanley conducts a combative in-depth interview with Louis Lester. This funny and disturbing drama complements the main story perfectly while leading us towards a shocking and unexpected conclusion.

Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen

Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen
Author: Robin Nelson
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2011-05-20
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1408145928

Over four decades, Stephen Poliakoff has proved himself to be a distinctive dramatist in the mediums of theatre, film and television. Moving from playwright to television and film director, he has been hailed as 'TV's foremost writer' (Independent) and as 'one of our most poetic and best TV dramatists' (Daily Telegraph). In the USA, his TV 'films' have received industry acclaim, The Lost Prince winning three Emmy Awards and Gideon's Daughter two Golden Globes. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of Poliakoff's work for stage and screen and a framework for its critical evaluation. It will prove invaluable to students of theatre, film, and television studies. Robin Nelson locates Poliakoff's distinctive vision and fierce independence as a writer and director in both personal and public histories and against industry contexts. He charts Poliakoff's 'meteoric rise' as a playwright, and his 'second starburst' in television drama since Shooting the Past (1999) which re-affirmed his reputation as a dramatist of distinction. While the chronology of Poliakoff's impressive output is clearly laid out, works are discussed in thematic clusters ranging across mediums to afford a fresh perspective. The book covers 'issue dramas', 'quirky strong women' and 'histories/memories' as well as Poliakoff's early developing dramaturgy, and it examines in detail the later feature films and television dramas which have secured his reputation as our most distinctive television dramatist.

Close to the Enemy

Close to the Enemy
Author: Stephen Poliakoff
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 438
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1350016020

Close to the Enemy is a seven-part television series, mostly set in a bomb-damaged London hotel in the aftermath of the Second World War. The drama follows intelligence officer Captain Callum Ferguson whose last task for the Army is to ensure that a captured German scientist, Dieter, starts working for the British RAF on urgently developing the jet engine. With the background of the emerging Cold War, it is clear to all that it's crucial for British national security that cutting-edge technology is made available to the armed forces as quickly as possible. Callum uses unorthodox methods in his attempt to convince Dieter to work with the British and eventually a friendship develops between the two men, but soon tensions arise as all is not as it seems. Over the course of the series, Callum encounters a number of other characters whose stories all intertwine. These characters include Victor, Callum's younger brother, struggling to deal with psychological trauma caused by his experience in the fighting; Harold, a Foreign Office official who reveals some startling truths about the outbreak of the war; Rachel, an enchanting Anglophile American engaged to his best friend; and Kathy, a tough young woman working for the War Crimes Unit, fighting to bring war criminals who escaped prosecution to justice. All these characters are trying to rebuild and move their lives forward in the aftermath of the war, a war that scarred them all so deeply. Close to the Enemy was first screened on BBC2 in November 2016 in a production by Little Island Productions. It starred Jim Sturgess, Freddie Highmore, Charlotte Riley, Phoebe Fox, August Diehl, Robert Glenister, Alfie Allen, Charity Wakefield, Angela Bassett, Lindsay Duncan and Alfred Molina.

Godber Plays: 2

Godber Plays: 2
Author: John Godber
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Drama
ISBN: 1472536460

"John Godber is one of the unsung heroes of British theatre, reaching the giddy heights of number three in the most-performed playwrights league table, nestled in behind Shakespeare and Ayckbourn" - Guardian Teechers: "In a class of its own ... Godber takes a hard-hitting look at life in a modern comprehensive where class conflicts, teacher tantrums and cavorting chaos runs riot through the corridors" The Express Happy Jack: "Godber manages with an affectionate and unerringly accurate ear for the tongues of the pit village to turn these two into a Chaucerian kind of celebration of life. At the end of the line the play is a sad, bruised but richly comic love story" Guardian September in the Rain: "The work of a genuinely talented playwright" Evening Standard Salt of the Earth: "John Godber has a special gift for capturing the lives and inner turmoil of the working class ... In the most subtle and incisive ways, he suggests how the combination of innate personality and a changing society determines individual destiny" Chicago Times