A spotlight on plays and drama
Under our Methuen Drama imprint, Bloomsbury is the UK’s largest performing arts publisher and we have been working for some time to diversify the voices and stories we publish in our play portfolio. We feel passionately about the importance of drama as a genre of study at Key Stage 3, GCSE and A Level, as well as in the younger years. As a Partner in the Lit in Colour campaign, created in 2020 by Penguin Books and the UK’s leading race equality think-tank, The Runnymede Trust, we bring our unique focus on drama to help move the curriculum forward and diversify the plays young people encounter in the classroom.
Change is happening
In the Lit in Colour Pioneers Pilot research, published in September 2024 and jointly commissioned by Penguin Books and the exam board Pearson, teachers reported “life-changing” results after teaching more diverse texts to their students. This latest research has shown that the overall percentage of students in England answering an exam question on a text by an author of colour, across exam boards, has more than doubled from 0.7% in 2019 to 1.5% in 2023. What’s more, schools like Blue Coat School in Coventry, which transitioned their set text to Tanika Gupta’s play The Empress, noted that the school had seen unexpected benefits such as improved student attendance, less boredom, greater excitement for English lessons and students expressing they’re more likely to consider taking A-level as a result.
But there’s work still to be done
The representation and take-up of work by writers from Global Majority and minority ethnic backgrounds remains significantly lower than it should. We continue to be committed to the objectives and ambitions of the Lit in Colour campaign, and we hope this Play List goes some way to changing the landscape for the better to make drama more inclusive in our classrooms.
“The (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List from Bloomsbury is a significant resource, particularly in light of the play texts recently added to the GCSE and A level assessment specifications. Educators are able to use this resource to expand their own, and students’ exposure to plays written by authors of colour. The (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List forms a strong foundation for creative engagement within classrooms and beyond. As we are now in the fourth year of the (incomplete) Lit in Colour book lists, this second edition of the (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List from Bloomsbury reflects the complementary nature of our collaboration.”
Dr Lesley Nelson-Addy, Education Manager, The Runnymede Trust
“The launch of this second edition of the (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List from Bloomsbury is significant as it continues to demonstrate the dazzling breadth of what is available to study when it comes to drama texts by playwrights of colour. Working in partnership with Bloomsbury for the last two years highlights how important it is to tackle complex systemic issues through collaboration as we are able to lean on and learn from each other’s knowledge and expertise. It’s so exciting to think about the kinds of classroom discussion that could enter an English Literature, Drama, Performing Arts or Theatre Studies class through the introduction of just one of the plays in this year’s list! ”
Dr Zaahida Nabagereka, Senior Social Impact Manager, Penguin Books
Anna Brewer, Publisher for Drama, Bloomsbury
Moon on a Rainbow Shawl by Errol John at the National Theatre. Starring Tahirah Sharif (Esther), Danny Sapani (Ephraim)
Photograph by Donald Cooper, Photostage
Welcome to the (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List 2024
We originally asked our first cohort of Lit in Colour advisors – Hannah Khalil, Pooja Ghai and mezze eade – for their help in selecting plays they would recommend to teachers looking to diversify their English or Drama curriculum. The longlist was extensive, so we decided to release the plays in several instalments annually to make it more manageable for teachers to navigate. Of course, the longlist also continues to grow as more new plays are published!
Here, we are delighted to present the second part of the (Incomplete) list, which consists of 60 plays by writers from Global Majority and minority ethnic backgrounds, which are suitable for study with secondary school-age students. The choice of plays in the list has been informed by the expertise of our previous advisors, as well as our current advisors – Inua Ellams, Zahara Chowdhury and Zhui Ning Chang – alongside the publishers of all the plays.
We hope you find this a helpful resource and one that leads you to some plays and playwrights that you and your students can go on to enjoy and discover further.
With thanks to
As with the first Play List we would like to extend our thanks to Nick Hern Books, Faber and Concord Theatricals for their continued collaboration and input into this List. We hope that by providing a publisheragnostic list of plays, it gives schools a useful and accessible guide to plays available to perform and study.
“We have been delighted by the enthusiastic reception to the first (Incomplete) Lit in Colour Play List – but not surprised. We knew there was a very real, very urgent need for more plays by more diverse writers to be more widely known, read, studied, performed and celebrated, and we have been actively working for some time to diversify and broaden our list of authors. The sense of the canon being disrupted and rewritten is exciting and long overdue. Thank you to everyone who has dived into the first list – we hope this second list offers you another springboard for rich discoveries.”
Matt Applewhite, Managing Director, Nick Hern Books
“Faber is delighted to be a part of Lit in Colour. It is essential that the theatrical canon reflects the diverse world in which we live, and we are eager to find ways in which to broaden access to a multitude of voices. This valuable resource reflects this goal. The plays invite the reader to experience an inspirational variety of cultures and to savour enriching stories from writers of the Global Majority. We hope they will be studied and enjoyed widely.”
Dinah Wood, Editorial Director, Drama, Faber
“Concord Theatricals, through its celebrated Samuel French imprint, has a long history publishing authors from Global Majority backgrounds, ensuring that these plays reach the stage and as wide an audience as possible through scholarship and performance. We are delighted to have a number of our plays represented in the (Incomplete) Lit in Colour list and to be a part in showcasing some of the greatest plays ever written.”
Amy Rose Marsh, Vice President, Acquisitions and Artistic Development, Concord Theatricals
How to use this guide and a note from our 2024 Lit in Colour advisors
This guide includes 60 plays, written by a diverse range of playwrights covering a rich variety of topics. As you read through, you will find that each play explores a range of themes and concerns, all of which are relevant and representative of topics and issues that affect students today.
This year, the List has been developed with different age groups in mind. The List is structured to recommend plays for key stages 3, 4 and 5. Whilst each play is accompanied by a description and content warnings, it is recommended you read the plays and evaluate whether it is suitable for your class and context. At the end of the guide you will find that the plays are grouped by themes, which can help with curriculum planning and mapping. The guide also signposts additional teaching resources that are available for some of the plays.
The collection can complement set exam board texts, reading lists, NEA text performance options and be a focus for reading groups, drama clubs and more.
This Play List is filled with powerful stories, interesting characters and lived experiences that bring students to the heart and soul of drama. We hope you love the plays as much as we have loved curating such an inspiring list of drama. Enjoy!
Zahara Chowdhury, Lit in Colour Advisor, 2024
KS3/11 - 14+
KS4/GCSE/14-16+ p10-24
KS5/AS & A Level/16-18+ p25-37
Index by Themes p38-39
“A brilliant compilation of plays, demonstrating the immense talent and wealth of narratives onstage. I hope that Lit in Colour serves – not only as a valuable resource and proof of the diversity of stories on offer today – but also as inspiration for those who are looking for community, resonance and solidarity moving forward. ”
Zhui Ning Chang, Editor, Writer and Theatre Maker
Inua Ellams, Poet, Playwright & Performer, Graphic Artist and Designer
“The (Incomplete) Lit in Colour lists provide something unique and much needed in Drama and English classrooms: drawing attention to nuanced and sometimes unheard stories, which enable compassionate discussions of our diverse world and shared heritage. Schools and curriculums are busy places and these resources remove barriers to support teachers to welcome crucial, interdisciplinary and socially just explorations through the medium of drama.” ”
Zahara Chowdhury, Founder of School Should Be Blog & Podcast, DiverseEd Associate and EDI Business Partner at Buckinghamshire New University “This is an incredibly entertaining, energising, contemporary and progressive list of plays. I wish I had access to such wealth when I was at school. Together, they demonstrate many of the narratives that make our nation and, in that, show the paths towards a more united society. Such is the importance of Lit in Colour. ”
Dugsi
Dayz
Sabrina Ali
Detention on a Saturday? These four girls are keeping tight-lipped on why they’re there.
When a power outage plunges them into darkness, the girls use subverted folktales to break the ice. As they delve into their stories, they discover parallels that may just lead to friendship.
A comedic exploration of Somali Muslim culture and female friendship, inspired by the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club.
ISBN: 9780573000331
Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Religion, Feminism, Racism
Content Warnings: Sexism, Racism
Most suited to KS3 + www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/96387/dugsi-dayz
English Kings Killing Foreigners
Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti
So we’ve been cast in a post-war English Nationalist Anti-Fascist Kebab Shop reimagining of Henry V set in the future?
The death of a national sweetheart.
A friendship tested by a bloody act.
An infamous production of Shakespeare’s Henry V
A tell-all dark comedy that peels back the skin of English cultural identity to reveal the steaming battlefields that lie beneath. Would you die for your country?
From rehearsal room microaggressions, to the battlefields of France, into the bureaucracy of applying for citizenship, join Shakespeare’s Globe
Ensemble veterans Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti as they explore their histories alongside England’s own as unwilling actors in a national story.
ISBN: 9781350510852 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Adaptation, Cultural Identity, Emigration, Immigration, Shakespeare, Racism, History
Content Warnings: Use of Prop Weapons, Swearing, References to Racism, Misgendering, Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia, War, Classism, Microaggressions
Most suited to KS3+ www.bloomsbury.com/english-kings-killing-foreigners-9781350510852
Musical Differences
Robin French
In the summer of Year 10, Alex Stokes finally does it: he buys an electric guitar, and starts a rock group. Teaming up with mysterious young Joel Lawrence, what follows could well be the most incredible saga in the school’s musical history…
Surviving different line-ups, impossible love affairs, and brutal school politics, by Year 13, the group is a rocking success. But, in the face of their final gig being nothing short of remarkable, the band begin to wonder: have the individual members paid too high a price?
Taking inspiration from the playwright Robin French’s years in the music industry as the bassist of the UK band Mr Hudson and The Library, Musical Differences is about the realities of success, and those willing to sacrifice it all to follow a dream.
ISBN: 9781350033597 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Self-Expression, Friendships, Cultural Differences, Class Differences, Coming-of-Age, Education, Identity, Discrimination Content Warnings: Mild Language, Mild Sex and Drug References
Most suited to KS3+ www.bloomsbury.com/national-theatreconnections-2017-9781350033597
Additional teaching resources: More plays by Robin French can be read online via Drama Online
This play appears in National Theatre Connections 2017 For more National Theatre Connections anthologies visit www.bloomsbury.com/National-Theatre
10 Nights
Shahid Iqbal Khan
When Yasser decides to take part in Itikaf, sleeping and fasting in the mosque for the last ten nights of Ramadan, he soon regrets his decision. But as he navigates smug worshippers, shared bathrooms, and recurring thoughts of chunky chips, Yasser’s isolation forces him to confront a side of himself he’s been trying to keep hidden.
A moving and funny play by Shahid Iqbal Khan, 10 Nights is the story of one man’s journey of self-discovery and facing the consequences of your actions.
Nominated for the 2022 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.
ISBN: 9781350292741 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Duty, Identity, Race, Religion, Ritual
Content Warnings: References to Death
Most suited to KS3+
www.bloomsbury.com/10-nights-9781350292741
Moon on a Rainbow Shawl
Errol John
For the teeming populace of Old Mack’s cacophonous yard in Port-ofSpain, Trinidad, it’s a cheek by jowl existence lived out on a sweltering public stage. Snatches of calypso compete with hymn tunes and street cries as neighbours drink, brawl, flirt, pass judgment, look out for each other and crave a better life. But Ephraim is no dreamer and nothing, not even the seductive Rosa, is going to stop him escaping his dead-end job for a fresh start in England.
Set as returning troops from the Second World War fill the town with their raucous celebrations, Errol John’s Moon on a Rainbow Shawl is a major work of twentieth-century drama.
First produced at the Royal Court in 1958, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl was revived at the National Theatre, London, in 2012.
ISBN: 9780571290109 Publisher: Faber
Themes: Class, Colonialism, Community, Family, Relationships, Freedom, Music Content Warnings: Mild Sexual References Most suited to KS3+ www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571290109-moon-on-a-rainbow-shawl/
Additional teaching resources:
Original press reviews and photographs on Future Histories website: www.futurehistories.org.uk/s/future-histories/item/2240
Moon Rainbow on a Shawl
Sancho: An Act of Remembrance
Paterson Joseph
Born on a slave ship in 1729, later becoming the fellow actor and friend of David Garrick and the first Black person of African origin to vote in Britain, the life of Charles Ignatius Sancho was full of surprising, moving and funny twists. As Thomas Gainsborough paints his famous portrait, we are given an insight into the forgotten but true story of an African man who dared to act, write, sing, dance and voice his political opinion with wit and charm.
ISBN: 9781849431491
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Society, Slavery, History
Most suited to KS3 + www.bloomsbury.com/sancho-9781849431491
Bach at Leipzig
Itamar Moses
Leipzig, Germany 1722. Johann Kuhnau, revered organist of the Thomaskirche, suddenly dies, leaving his post vacant. The town council invites musicians to audition for the coveted position, among them young Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bach at Leipzig is a fugue-like farcical web of bribery, blackmail, and betrayal set against the backdrop of Enlightenment questions about humanity, God, and art.
ISBN: 9780573651441 Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Blackmail, Fame, Money, Religion, Art
Most suited to KS3+
www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/2497/bach-at-leipzig
Also by Waleed Akhtar: The P Word, The Real Ones
Two Billion Beats
Sonali Bhattacharyya
Kabul Goes Pop: Music Television Afghanistan
Waleed Akhtar
Afghanistan. It’s 2004. Farook and Samia broadcast live every day to the whole of Kabul, delivering ninety minutes of musical bliss: Britney, Backstreet Boys and Enrique Iglesias. But when their show starts to make waves, the two young friends must take on repressive forces to build a new Afghanistan.
Inspired by the true story of Afghanistan’s first youth music programme, this acclaimed play explores a world following the US invasion that is complex, contradictory and shocking – all to a soundtrack of early noughties’ pop.
It premiered at Brixton House, London, in 2022, directed by Anna Himali Howard, before touring the UK.
Waleed Akhtar was named Most Promising New Playwright at the 2023 OffWestEnd Awards.
ISBN: 9781839040931 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Friendship, National Identity, Politics, Power, Society, Youth Content Warnings: Swearing, Reference to Racism, Violence and Death Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/kabul-goes-pop
Seventeen-year-old Asha is a rebel, inspired by historical revolutionaries and unafraid of pointing out the hypocrisy around her – but less sure how to actually dismantle it. Her younger sister, Bettina, wide-eyed and naive, is just trying to get through the school day without having her pocket money nicked.
With essays to write, homework to do, and bus journeys home, the two sisters meet every afternoon, outside the school gates, to tackle the injustice of the world.
Two Billion Beats is an insightful, heartfelt coming-of-age story and a blazing account of inner-city, British-Asian teenage life. It premiered at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2022.
ISBN: 9781839040726 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Class, Family, Growing Up, Hope, Justice, Society, Youth Content Warnings: Swearing, Bullying References Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/two-billion-beats
Also by Sonali Bhattacharyya: Chasing Hares, Liberation Squares, King Troll (The Fawn)
Red Velvet
Lolita Chakrabarti
The play is set in the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage whilst playing Othello. A young Black American actor, Ira Aldridge, has been asked to take over the role. But, as the public riot in the streets, how will the cast, critics and audience react to the revolution taking place in the theatre?
Written by the 2012 Most Promising Playwright (Evening Standard Awards) Lolita Chakrabarti, Red Velvet uses imagined experiences based on the often-forgotten, but true, story of Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor who, in the nineteenth century, built an incredible reputation on the stages of London and Europe.
It premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in October 2012. Ira Aldridge was played by the Olivier Awardwinning Adrian Lester, who was named best actor for this role in the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
ISBN: 9781350149137 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Play Within a Play, Prejudice, Race, Love, Politics, Friendship
Content Warnings: Mild Adult Themes Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/red-velvet-9781350149137
Also by Lolita Chakrabarti: Hymn, Life of Pi
Additional teaching resources: A Q&A with Lolita Chakrabarti can be found on the Folger Shakespeare Library
This Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Kenneth Branagh.
Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti. Performed at Tricycle Theatre l-r: Adrian Lester (Ira Aldridge), Eugene O’Hare (Pierre Laporte)
Photograph by Donald Cooper, Photostage
Habibti Driver
Shamia Chalabi and Sarah Henley
Meet Ashraf and his ‘Habibti’ – his daughter Shazia. He’s an Egyptian, Muslim taxi driver; she’s half-Egyptian, half-Wiganese, and more interested in the last call at the bar than the call to prayer.
Their relationship is put to the test when Ashraf introduces Shazia to his new Egyptian bride, whilst she is attempting to break the news of her own secret engagement. In Ashraf’s taxi they must navigate driving lessons, sing karaoke and explore whether, despite their differences, family can win out regardless.
This heartwarming and hilarious play, premiered at the Octagon Theatre Bolton in 2022, is based on Chalabi’s real-life experiences, and explores the clashes, compromises and comedy that come with living in a mixed-culture family in today’s Britain.
ISBN: 9781839040849 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Family, Identity, Race, Relationships, Romance, Women
Content Warnings: Swearing, Reference to Drug Use, Sexual References
Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/habibti-driver
Blue Mist
Mohamed-Zain Dada
Chunkyz Shisha Lounge is a home away from home for Jihad, Rashid and Asif, a space where community whispers are heard, jokes are told, and new hustles are born. But its future is under threat, having become a target for local politicians.
Aspiring journalist Jihad wants to fight back. After winning a competition to produce his own documentary, he sets out to create something that gives a voice to his community and challenges the usual stereotypes that fill the airwaves. Will he be able to create something that makes his boys proud? Or will his dreams of becoming a journalist come at a cost too high to bear?
Mohamed-Zain Dada’s debut play, Blue Mist, is a story about South Asian Muslim men navigating a system that isn’t built for them. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in October 2023, directed by Milli Bhatia, in a co-production with SISTER.
ISBN: 9781839042881 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Politics, Activism, Belonging, Cultural Identity
Content Warnings: Swearing, Racist Language, Drug Use, Reference to Suicide and Death
Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/blue-mist
Summer Rolls
Tuyen Do
Tuyen Do’s Summer Rolls is a sweeping generational saga that follows the lives, secrets, and traumas of a British-Vietnamese family.
The Nguyen family are nursing deep wounds and secrets. Escaping war-torn Vietnam has left scars that no one is willing to talk about. As the family gradually integrates into their new life in Britain, the youngest daughter Mai turns to photography, her camera becoming a conduit through which she navigates her dual identity as a second generation immigrant and chronicles her community’s experiences.
ISBN: 9781786828040 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Emigration, Family, Identity, Immigration, Performance Content Warnings: Mild Language, Violence
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/summer-rolls-9781786828040
Sleepova
Matilda Feyisayo Ibini
This Olivier Award-winning play follows Rey, Elle, Shan and Funmi who have finally convinced their parents to let them hold their very first sleepova. Armed with sugary snacks, school gossip, and secret questions they can only ask each other, their sleepovas become pretty much a sacred space for them.
A frank, funny and moving coming-of-age story, Sleepova is an ode to Black women, their boundless spirits and wild dreams.
ISBN: 9780573013478 Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Childhood, Friendship, Race, Ambition, Sexual identity, Disability, Grief
Content Warnings: References to Sex, Sexual Assault, Racism, Homophobia, Bullying and Chronic Illness
Most suited to KS4 + www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/95727/sleepova
Also by Matilda Feyisayo Ibini: Muscovado, Little Miss Burden
Home
Nadia Fall
A powerful, inventive play that mixes real testimonials alongside existing and original music to explore one of the most important social concerns of today: homelessness amongst young people.
Bullet doesn’t want to call a hostel home. Eritrean Girl was smuggled here in a lorry. Singing Boy dreams of seeing his name in lights and Garden Boy just wants to feel safe.
When the big society doesn’t work, where do you go? An inner-city high-rise hostel, Target East, offers a roof.
This bold verbatim play brings to life the unheard voices of the young residents and staff who live and work behind the anonymous concrete walls, and asks what it really means to call somewhere home. It was first staged at The Shed, National Theatre, London, in 2013.
ISBN: 9781848423558
Publisher: Nick Hern Books Themes: Relationships, Class, Environment, Identity, National Identity Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual References, Reference to Violence Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/home-play
Additional teaching resources: Q&A interview with the author, as part of Nick Hern Books’ NHB Playgroup series Filmed production available on Drama Online
Home by Nadia Fall Starring Michaela Coel
Photo by Ellie Kurttz. Available in National Theatre Collection 2 on Drama Online
Word-Play
Rabiah Hussain
In the Downing Street Press Office an emergency meeting has been called. The Prime Minister has been ad-libbing on live TV (again) and his words are going viral.
There is a flurry of accusations, and demands for an apology; but as his team debate what to do next, it’s already too late. His words have found their way to dinner parties, bus journeys and newspaper columns across the nation – and not everyone is angry.
Word-Play explores how language seeps into public consciousness and reverberates with far-reaching consequences that will last for generations. It premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in 2023.
ISBN: 9781839041310 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Media, Politics, Society
Content Warnings: Swearing
Most suited to KS4+
www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/word-play
A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain
Sami Ibrahim
Elif shears sheep for a rich landowner. Every other waking hour she spends queuing outside the palace, hoping that the King will let her live within the city walls. She comes from a faraway land. She is searching for sanctuary. And this is what we call a ‘hostile environment’.
A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain is a poetic fable about an impenetrable immigration system that mirrors our own. It premiered in Paines Plough’s Roundabout in 2022, including a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
ISBN: 9781839041112
Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Ambition, Class, Hope, Immigration, Society
Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual Reference
Most suited to KS4+
www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/sudden-violent-burst-of-rain
Also by Sami Ibrahim: two Palestinians go dogging, Multiple Casualty Incident, Wind Bit Bitter, Bit Bit Bit Her
Fat Ham
James Ijames
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ijames reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece with his new drama, a delectable comic tragedy.
Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. It feels like a familiar story to Juicy, well-versed in Hamlet’s woes. From an uproarious family barbecue emerges a compelling examination of love and loss, pain and joy.
ISBN: 9780573710384 Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Race, Family, Betrayal, Revenge, Sexual Identity, Love, Loss
Content Warnings: Queer Identities, Toxic Masculinity, Family Dynamics and Cycles of Violence
Most suited to KS4+ www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/95381/fat-ham
Girls
Theresa Ikoko
Why is everyone so bloody obsessed with hashtags? What on earth do you want to do with a hashtag? Can you use it to shoot your way out of here?
Three ordinary girls, Tisana, Ruhab and Haleema. Best friends forever. All the big issues: love, sex, religion... and being kidnapped from their hometown in Nigeria.
Fiercely funny and powerfully political, Theresa Ikoko’s Girls explores enduring friendship, girlhood and the stories behind the headlines that quickly become yesterday’s news, and won the 2015 Alfred Fagon Award and 2016 George Devine Award.
ISBN: 9781350429949 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Freedom, Friendship, Terrorism, War, Women
Content Warnings: Sexual References, Mild Language, Violence and Self-Harm
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/girls-9781350429949
Also by Theresa Ikoko: Rebel Voices: Monologues for Women by Women
This Modern Classics edition features an introduction by Daniel Bailey.
J’Ouvert
Yasmin Joseph
Carnival is here. The streets of Notting Hill are alive with history and amongst the pulsating soca, dazzling colour, and endless sequins and feathers, Jade and Nadine are fighting for space in a world they thought was theirs.
A timely reflection on the Black British experience and sexual politics of Carnival, J’Ouvert is a piercing, hilarious and fearless story of two best friends, battling to preserve tradition in a society where women’s bodies are frequently under threat.
Winner of the James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2020.
ISBN: 9781786827838 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Sexuality, Women, Friendship, Society
Content Warnings: Adult Themes, Strong Language, Violence, Sexual References
Most suited to KS4+
www.bloomsbury.com/jouvert-9781786827838
Josephine and I
Cush Jumbo
Josephine Baker: captivating performer, political activist and international icon, who lived from 1906 to 1975.
From the ragtime rhythms of St Louis and the intoxicating sounds of 1920s Paris, to present-day London, Josephine and I intertwines the story of a modern-day girl with that of one of the greatest, yet largely forgotten, stars of the 20th century.
Cush Jumbo starred in the premiere of her debut play, which centres on the legendary American entertainer and her impact on a contemporary young woman. Live music combines with dance to bring to life the contemporary legacy of a woman Ernest Hemingway described as “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw, and ever will.”
ISBN: 9781472534538 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: History, Society, Performance, Relationships, Ambition, Cultural Difference, Emigration, Prejudice, Race
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Discriminatory Language, Sexual References, Abortion Reference
Most suited to KS4+
www.bloomsbury.com/josephine-and-i-9781472534538
Brown Boys Swim
Karim Khan
Best friends Mohsen and Kash are gearing up for the biggest night of their lives – Jess Denver’s pool party. There’s just one problem... they can’t swim.
Fueled by halal Haribo and chicken wings, the pair throw themselves in at the deep end, tackling cramped cubicles and cold showers as they learn how to be at one with the water.
Fierce, funny, and brimming with heart, Karim Khan examines the pressures faced by young Muslim men in this exhilarating new play about fitting in and striking out, that won the 2022 Fringe First Popcorn Award.
ISBN: 9781350347502 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Friendship, Hope, Identity, Race, Religion, Society, Youth Content Warnings: Strong Language, Racism, References to Death
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/brown-boys-swim-9781350347502
Run
Stephen Laughton
Yonni is a seventeen-year-old gay Jewish kid. It’s the last day of term and he’s avoiding everything. The only person he wants to be around, think about, be about... is Adam.
And as his night unfolds and falls into chaos – some of it real, some of it not – Yonni pulls us into his world. A world filled with school riots, first loves, beached whales, political demonstrations, sunshine, cinema, sex and rebellion.
Set over one unforgettable summer and encompassing all of space and time, Stephen Laughton’s one-man play Run explores what it means to love, to lose and how to grow from a boy into a man. First produced at VAULT Festival 2016, the play transferred to The Bunker in 2017, after a national tour.
ISBN: 9781848426610 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Children and Childhood, Growing Up, Religion, Youth Content Warnings: Swearing, Racism, Violence, Sexual References Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/run
Also by Stephen Laughton: One Jewish Boy
Shifters
Benedict Lombe
Dre and Des. Dream and Destiny. Young. Gifted. Black. He stayed. She left.
Now, tragedy brings them crashing back into each other’s lives –carrying new secrets and old scars that threaten to rewrite the past and reshape the future.
Shifters is a fierce, funny and intoxicating romance about the enduring power – and fragility – of memory and love. It was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Artistic Director Lynette Linton, and later transferred to London’s West End.
ISBN: 9781839043925 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Love, Memory, Race
Content Warnings: Swearing, Alcohol Use, Sexual References
Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/shifters
Baghdaddy
Jasmine Naziha Jones
It’s 1991 and the Gulf War rages three thousand, three hundred and twenty miles away. Darlee is 8 years old, crying behind the wheelie bookcase in Miss Stratford’s classroom. She’s just realised she’s Iraqi. Or half. Maybe both.
She saw it on the news last night after Neighbours and fish fingers. Heard the fear slipping through the receiver, saw it oozing from Dad’s eyeballs and into the living room as he tried to phone home.
What she can’t process now, she’ll be haunted by later; the spirits hounding her will make sure of that…
Baghdaddy is a playfully devastating coming-of-age story, that explores the complexities of cultural identity, generational trauma and a father-daughter relationship amidst global conflict, and that was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2024.
ISBN: 9781350384262 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Death, Grief, War, Suicide, Race, Generational Trauma Content Warnings: Strong Language, Violence, Racism, Sexual References
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/baghdaddy-9781350384262
Also by Benedict Lombe: Lava
Also by Amir Nizar Zuabi: The Beloved, Oh My Sweet Land
I Am Yusuf And This Is My Brother
Amir Nizar Zuabi
January 1948. Palestine. The British Mandate is ending. The UN is voting on who will control what part of the land.
Ali is in love with Nada - but he is in despair. Her father won’t let them marry because his brother Yusuf is ‘odd’ with his own eccentric, child-like point of view. Rufus, a soldier on the occupying British forces, longs for the cold fogs of Sheffield. War begins and, as the villagers are scattered and become refugees, the secret that’s kept Ali and Nada apart is revealed.
Although set within a politically charged context, the play is full of haunting, dreamlike poetry rather than didactic polemicism. Instead of simply exploring the political debate, Zuabi concentrates more on the richness of language and culture.
With a keen awareness of the vulnerability and fragile ephemerality of life, I Am Yusuf And This Is My Brother explores humanity and love in the context of loss and death.
ISBN: 9781408130056 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Religion, History, Politics, Home, Conflict Content Warnings: Violence, Colonialism, War Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/i-am-yusuf-and-this-is-my-brother-9781408130056
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
Lynn Nottage
The Crump family is adrift and in trouble. Recently widowed Godfrey is under the spell of Sweet Father Divine, while his teenage daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, immerse themselves in the illusions of Hollywood to escape racial prejudice. But things change quickly when free-spirited Aunt Lily shows up…
This arresting, thought-provoking play about racial and social issues of the late 1950s – written by the first (and, so far, the only) woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times – was first performed OffBroadway in 1995, and has since been revived numerous times.
ISBN: 9781839040023 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Ambition, Family, Parenthood, Race, Racism, Relationships, Society, Youth Content Warnings: Mild Swearing, Racist Terms
Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/crumbs-from-the-table-of-joy
Also by Lynn Nottage: Sweat, Ruined, Intimate Apparel, Mlima’s Tale, Clyde’s
Princess Essex
Anne Odeke
It’s Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1908. Princess Dinubolu of Senegal enters a beauty contest at the iconic Kursaal, Europe’s biggest entertainment complex. Meet Princess Essex.
This fast-paced, music-filled, empowering comedy is based on the incredible true story of the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK. It premiered at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, in September 2024.
ISBN: 9781839043857 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Race, Society
Content Warnings: Swearing, Racism, Sexual Assault
Most suited to KS4+
www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/princess-essex
Additional teaching resources: Videos and resources can be found at www.shakespearesglobe.com
Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier
Somalia Seaton
In a country where protectionism masquerades as patriotism, a new national identity is being forged. Nostalgic notions of Englishness fracture as the rallying cries of a new generation are heard on the streets.
In London, an attack on a student forces her teacher to confront the uncomfortable truth lurking beneath the veneer of community cohesion… but can the community survive such scrutiny and, if it can’t, should it even exist?
Somalia Seaton peels away the privileged ignorance of our middleclass to expose the deep wound of cultural tension cutting through modern England, first performed for the RSC in 2016.
ISBN: 9781786820075 Publisher: Methuen Drama Themes: Class, Race, Identity, Society
Content Warnings: Mild Adult Themes, Racism
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/rsc-making-mischief-9781786820075
Also by Somalia Seaton: Rebel Voices: Monologues for Women by Women, Crowning Glory
Fireworks
Dalia Taha
Translated by Clem Naylor
In a Palestinian town, eleven-year-old Lubna and twelve-year-old Khalil are playing on the empty stairwell in their apartment block. As the siege intensifies outside, fear for their safety becomes as crippling as the conflict itself.
Dalia Taha’s play set in contemporary Palestine offers a new way of seeing how war fractures childhood.
ISBN: 9781474244503 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: War, Race, Childhood, Religion, Revenge, Politics Content Warnings: References to Violence and Suicide
Most suited to KS4+
www.bloomsbury.com/fireworks-9781474244503
ear for eye
debbie tucker green
Snapshots of lives, snapshots of experiences of protest; violence vs non-violence, direct action vs demonstrations, ear for eye follows characters navigating their way through society today.
debbie tucker green’s play is a furious dissection of racial injustice. It premiered in October 2018 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in a production directed by the playwright. The play was a finalist for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
A filmed version of ear for eye was broadcast on BBC Two in October 2021.
ISBN: 9781848427624 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Identity, Justice, Politics, Power, Race, Violence Content Warnings: Swearing, Reference to Racism, Violence and Death
Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/ear-for-eye
Also by debbie tucker green: hang, truth and reconciliation, born bad, random, dirty butterfly, stoning mary
The Canary and the Crow
Daniel Ward
A lyrical, semi-autobiographical piece from writer and performer Daniel Ward – using grime, hip hop and theatre, he tells the story of his struggle between a new environment that doesn’t accept him and an old one that has no opportunity.
Winner of the 2020 George Devine Award, this remarkable piece of gig theatre was originally produced by Middle Child at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019.
ISBN: 9781786827975 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Children and Childhood, Class, Cultural Difference, Identity, Race, Racism, Youth
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Mild Drug References, Mild Violence
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/canary-and-the-crow-9781786827975
Additional teaching resources: Videos and learning resources can be found on Middle Child Theatre page
Chicken Soup with Barley
Arnold Wesker
The kettle boils in 1936 as the fascists are marching. Tea is brewed in 1946, with disillusion in the air at the end of the war. Twenty years on, in 1956, as rumours spread of Hungarian revolution, the cup is empty.
Sarah Khan, an East End Jewish mother, is a feisty political fighter and a staunch communist. Battling against the State and her shirking husband, she desperately tries to keep her family together.
This landmark state-of-the-nation play is a panoramic drama portraying the age-old battle between realism and idealism. Chicken Soup with Barley captures the collapse of an ideology alongside the disintegration of a family.
Chicken Soup with Barley, the first in a trilogy that includes Roots and I’m Talking about Jerusalem was first performed at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry in 1958 and transferred to the Royal Court in the same year.
ISBN: 9781408156605 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Children and Childhood, Class, Cultural Difference, Identity, Race, Racism, Youth
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Mild Drug References, Mild Violence
Most suited to KS4+ www.bloomsbury.com/chicken-soup-with-barley-9781408156605
Also by Arnold Wesker: Ambivalences, Groupie, Joy and Tyranny, The Kitchen, The Merchant, Roots
Shedding a Skin
Amanda Wilkin
Broke, single and newly unemployed, Myah finds herself at rock bottom. And so she heads up fifteen floors to the cheapest digs available, where she meets Mildred. As mutual suspicion fades, a joyful intergenerational bond develops, and this unlikely couple begin to heal each other. Shedding a Skin is about finding kindness in unexpected places, about understanding what our elders can teach us; it’s new skin honouring old.
Shedding a Skin won the Verity Bargate Award and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2020. It premiered at Soho Theatre, London, in 2021, performed by the author.
ISBN: 9780571372737 Publisher: Faber
Themes: Friendship, Community, Society, Racism, Protest, Politics, Age and Youth Content Warnings: Racism, Depression Most suited to KS4+ www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571372737-shedding-a-skin/
Also by Amanda Wilkin: Recognition
Ramona Tells Jim
Sophie Wu
A darkly comic debut play about confession and the gravity of young love.
Ramona is sixteen, hates bananas, and she’s totally cool. Honestly. She’s completely cool.
It’s 1998, and Ramona, of Englandshire, is on a wet, midge-riddled geography field trip, deep in the Scottish Highlands. There she meets Jim, a local laddie obsessed with hermit crabs, rock erosion and spider plants.
When Ramona falls for Jim’s awkward charm, she gets caught in a scandal that will haunt her for years to come.
Ramona Tells Jim was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2017.
ISBN: 9781848426702
Publisher: Nick Hern Books Themes: Relationships, Friendship, Growing up Content Warnings: Swearing, Sex and Sexual References Most suited to KS4+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/ramona-tells-jim
The Interrogation of Sandra Bland
Mojisola Adebayo
Mojisola Adebayo’s drama is based on the real-life story of the 28-yearold African American woman Sandra Bland, who, in 2015, died in a police cell in southeast Texas after she was arrested for a minor driving offence.
The Interrogation of Sandra Bland is a verbatim play transcribing the dashcam recording of Sandra Bland’s arrest into a choral performance by Black women.
ISBN: 9781786828002 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Crime, Death, Performance, Race, Racism, Domestic Violence, Women
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Violence
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/mojisola-adebayo-plays-two-9781786828002
Also by Mojisola Adebayo: Muhammad Ali and Me in Beyond The Canon’s Plays for Young Activists
This play is featured in the volume Mojisola Adebayo: Plays Two
New Nigerians
Oladipo Agboluaje
Nigeria: ‘The Giant of Africa’. Conservatives rule over the biggest economy on the continent, and one of the largest and youngest populations in the world. What if the people wanted something different? What if they got it?
As time runs out to build a coalition which can challenge the ruling party, can progressive forces overcome their personal and political differences, or will their troubled pasts define an even more troubling future?
ISBN: 9781786821379 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Class, Family, National Identity, Performance, Politics, Society
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Sexual References, Drug References
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/new-nigerians-9781786821379
Also by Oladipo Agboluaje: The Christ of Coldharbour Lane, Class Acts, The Estate, Immune, Iya-Ile : The First Wife
Disgraced
Ayad Akhtar
New York. Today. Corporate lawyer Amir Kapoor is happy, in love, and about to land the biggest career promotion of his life. But beneath the veneer, success has come at a price. When Amir and his artist wife, Emily, host an intimate dinner party at their Upper East Side apartment, what starts out as a friendly conversation soon escalates into something far more damaging.
Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play questions whether we can ever truly escape the confines of our upbringing and our heritage.
ISBN: 9781350146488 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Religion, Violence, Class, Ambition Content Warnings: Language, Violence, Racism
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/disgraced-9781350146488
This Modern Classics edition features an introduction by J.T. Rogers
She He Me
Raphaël Amahl Khouri
Randa, Omar and Rok: an Algerian trans woman who is expelled under the threat of death from her homeland because of her activism; a Jordanian gay man who suffers due to strict codes of masculinity imposed and expected of him by both the heterosexual and gay people around him; a Lebanese trans man, hiding even from himself.
Through humour and horror, these three come up against the state, society, family, and (most critically) themselves as they sidestep the realities of their identities… in environments that really don’t want to have that conversation.
Billed by the National Queer Theatre as the “first trans Arab play,” She He Me’s depiction of the three Arab characters and their experiences of gender not only revolutionise documentary theatre as a genre, but to the theatrical landscape at large.
ISBN: 9781350179219 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Identity, Cultural Differences, Relationships, Family, Trans Experiences, LGBTQ Experiences, Activism, Identity Content Warnings: Domestic Violence, Police Violence, Sexual Abuse
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/methuen-drama-book-of-trans-plays-9781350179219
This play is published in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays
Amsterdam
Maya Arad Yasur
An Israeli violinist. Living in her trendy canal-side Amsterdam apartment. Nine months pregnant.
One day a mysterious unpaid gas bill from 1944 arrives. It awakens unsettling feelings of collective identity, foreignness and alienation. Stories of a devastating past are compellingly reconstructed to try and make sense of the present.
First seen at the Haifa Theater, Israel, in 2018, Amsterdam is a strikingly original, audacious thriller. It received its UK premiere, in this English translation by Eran Edry, at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in 2019, directed by Matthew Xia, in a co-production between the Orange Tree, Actors Touring Company and Theatre Royal Plymouth.
ISBN: 9781848428898 Publisher: Nick Hern Books Themes: History, Identity, Memory, Murder, Mystery, War, Violence Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual References, Racist Language Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/amsterdam
The Mikvah Project
Josh Azouz
A playful and poignant play about two men who meet every Friday in a north-west London Mikvah, a traditional Jewish pool used for ritual cleansing.
Avi is married but childless. Eitan’s voice is breaking and he’s having wet dreams. At the Mikvah they talk about football, the synagogue choir, women. And as their bond deepens, a transformation begins… The Mikvah Project premiered at The Yard, London, in 2015.
ISBN: 9781788500388 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Sexuality, Relationships, Religion, Love Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual Reference, Reference to Suicide Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/the-mikvah-project
Also by Josh Azouz: Buggy Baby, Once Upon A Time in Nazi Occupied Tunisia, Victoria’s Knickers, Gigi & Dar
This play is recommended by our Lit in Colour 2023 Play List competition winner - Mark Cratchley from Cheltenham Bournside School
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Jocelyn Bioh
1986. Ghana’s prestigious Aburi Girls Boarding School.
Queen Bee Paulina and her crew excitedly await the arrival of the Miss Ghana pageant recruiter. It’s clear that Paulina is in top position to take the title until her place is threatened by Ericka – a beautiful and talented new transfer student. As the friendship group’s status quo is upended, who will be chosen for Miss Ghana and at what cost?
Bursting with hilarity and joy, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play explores the universal similarities (and glaring differences) facing teenage girls around the world, and was the winner of the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Comedy.
ISBN: 9781350407206 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Friendship, Belonging, Cultural Differences
Content Warnings: Racism, Self-harm/Eating Disorders, Racism
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/school-girls-or-the-african-mean-girlsplay-9781350407206
The Suicide
Nikolai Erdman. Adapted by Suhayla El-Bushra
Things are getting tough for Sam. No job, benefits stopped and stuck in a tiny flat with his girlfriend Maya and her mum. The pressure is building. It feels like there might be only one way out.
But every ending is a beginning and there are plenty of people keen to capitalise on Sam’s momentous decision. From corrupt local politicians to kids trying to raise the number of views of their online videos, everyone wants a piece of Sam’s demise. It scarcely matters what Sam actually wants. Faced with the promise of immortality, what’s his life worth?
Suhayla El-Bushra takes the satiric masterpiece by Nikolai Erdman and smashes it into contemporary urban Britain. A hilarious and modern adaptation of the classic Russian satire, The Suicide tells the story of one man’s pending demise and how the world seeks to profit from it.
ISBN: 9781474292726 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Celebrity, Moral Dilemmas, Identity, Adaptation
Content Warnings: Strong Language, Depictions of Suicide, Racism, Discriminatory Language
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/suicide-9781474292726
Set text: AQA AS and A Level Drama
Three Sisters
Anton Chekhov. Adapted by Inua Ellams Owerri, 1967, on the brink of the Biafran Civil War.
Lolo, Nne Chukwu and Udo are grieving the loss of their father. Months before, two ruthless military coups plunged the country into chaos. Fuelled by foreign intervention, the conflict encroaches on their provincial village, and the sisters long to return to their former home in Lagos… but does such a home even exist any more?
Author of smash-hits Barber Shop Chronicles and Antigone, Inua Ellams offers a heartbreaking and soulful retelling of Chekhov’s classic play, through the lens of the brutal Biafran war.
ISBN: 9781350262782 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Environment, Family, Politics, War, Violence, Adaptation Content Warnings: Racism, War, Colonialism, Violence, Xenophobia, Violent Imagery
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/three-sisters-9781350262782
Also by Inua Ellams: Antigone, Barber Shop Chronicles, Black T Shirt Collection, Cape, Knight Watch, The
A filmed performance is available on Drama Online as part of the National Theatre Collections.
Three Sisters by Inua Ellams. Starring Sarah Niles, Racheal Ofori and Natalie Simpson
Photos by The Other Richard. Available in National Theatre Collection 2 on Drama Online
Spalding Suite
Bones
Tanika Gupta
In 2014 local historian Catherine Corless made a discovery of baby bones and skeletons in the grounds of a mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. Built on the grounds of an old workhouse that operated between 1921 and 1961 the discovery threw up questions about the goingson across this and similar institutions across Ireland. Tanika Gupta’s powerful drama is loosely based on these recent and historical events, drawing inspiration from Corless’ discovery.
Told through the eyes of Grace and her grandchildren, Bones is a play about loss, punishment of unmarried mothers and the legacy of the demonisation of women by Church and State, where the human and reproductive rights of women are undermined.
Bones premiered at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2019.
ISBN: 9781350280632 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Loss, Religion, Society, Women Content Warnings: Filicide, Sexism/Misogyny, Violence
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/bones-9781350280632
Also by Tanika Gupta: The Empress, Great Expectations, A Doll’s House, Lions and Tigers
Bones is published in Methuen Drama’s Plays For Young People series which offers suitable plays for young performers at schools, youth groups and youth theatres that have each had premiere productions by young performers in the UK. View all Plays at bloomsbury.com/plays-for-young-people
Blood
Emteaz Hussain
A twenty-first-century love story. Caneze meets Sully in the college canteen.
The heat rises over triple chilli sauce in Nando’s. She makes her move in the sweet smoke of a shisha bar. A touchpaper is lit . . . but neither of them bargained on the lengths to which her brother would go to keep them apart.
A heartfelt and thoroughly modern take on Romeo and Juliet set among the Midlands Pakistani community, Blood by Emteaz Hussain illustrates the power of love, and the contrivances that look to keep lovers apart.
ISBN: 9781474250795 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Race, Love, Identity, Hope, Family, Loyalty Content Warnings: Violence, Racism, Sexual References, Coercive Control Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/blood-9781474250795
Lotus Beauty
Satinder Kaur Chohan
Lotus Beauty follows the intertwined lives of five multigenerational women, inviting us into Reita’s Salon where clients can wax lyrical about their day’s tiny successes or have their struggles massaged, plucked or tweezed away. But with honest truths and sharp-witted barbs high among the treatments on offer, will the power of community be enough to raise the spirits of everyone who passes through the Salon doors?
ISBN: 9780573133534 Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Race, Family, Belonging, Friendship
Content Warnings: References to Suicide, Sexual Assault, Abortion and Domestic Violence
Most suited to KS5+
www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/94626/lotus-beauty
Misty
Arinzé Kene
An epic, lyrical journey through the pulsating heart and underground soul of inner-city London.
Misty is an inventive blend of gig theatre, spoken word, live art and direct address, confronting the assumptions and expectations underpinning the act of telling a story.
The play premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2018, performed by the author and directed by Omar Elerian. It transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End in September 2018. It won Best Performance Piece at the 2019 Off-West End Awards.
ISBN: 9781848427594 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Society, The City, Politics, Race
Content Warnings: Swearing, Racist Terms, Reference to Racism
Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/misty
Also by Arinzé Kene: Little Baby Jesus, Estate Walls, good dog, God’s Property
Misty is also available in the anthology Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers
Elephant
Anoushka Lucas
A piano came through the sky and landed in Lylah’s council flat, just for her. As she pores over the keys and sound floods into all the rooms, Lylah falls in love.
At school, Lylah can’t ask questions – she’s got to be good, good, good or else she’ll lose her scholarship. At home she can’t ask questions; her cousins say she talks weird, and her parents are distracted. So she asks her piano: Where did you come from? Why are you here? And their shared history tumbles into the light.
Part gig, part musical love story, part journey through Empire, this moving monologue won Anoushka Lucas Best Writer at The Stage Debut Awards 2023 for its powerful depiction of self-exploration.
ISBN: 9781350448261 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Children and Childhood, Class, Cultural Difference, Identity, Race, Racism, Youth, Family, Self-Exploration
Content Warnings: Strong Language,Violence, Sexual References, Drug References, Discriminatory References
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/elephant-9781350448261
The Sun
Tomohiro Maekawa
Translated by Nozomi Abe
At the beginning of the 21st century, the world’s population decreased drastically due to the spread of viruses caused by terrorism, shattering social and global infrastructure. To recover and survive, a portion of the population became the Nox – nocturnal, genetically enhanced humans.
Afraid of their night-time counterparts, Curios (the regular humans) cut off these people and resisted any and all communication. Now, after ten years of social ostracism and sanction come to an end, the two sides start communicating once more… with climactic results.
Filled with boundless ideas – from speculative fiction to Buddhist philosophy to bioterrorism – and translated by Nozomi Abe, The Sun is a thoroughly modern look at generational divides, personal sacrifice, and how those with different perspectives and experiences can work together for a greater good.
ISBN:9781350278363 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Body, Fantasy, Illness, Science, Society
Content Warnings: Mild Horror References, References to Death, Violence and Suicide
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/methuen-drama-book-of-contemporary-japaneseplays-9781350278363
The Sun is available in The Methuen Drama Book of Contemporary Japanese Plays
ZHE: [noun] Undefined
Chuck Mike, Antonia Kemi Coker, Tonderai Munyevu
‘ZHE’ (pronounced zee) is a gender-neutral pronoun – not he or she.
Traveling from idyllic Harare, Zimbabwe to London’s gritty inner city; from the playfulness of childhood to the pain of adolescence; from the desire for forgiveness to self-acceptance, this humorous yet haunting drama encompasses the multiplicity of our cultural, gender and sexual identities and takes a fresh look at what makes us who we are.
ISBN: 9781783190720 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Gender and Sexual Identity, Woman, Race, Discrimination Content Warnings: Sexual References
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/zhe-9781783190720
Mugabe, My Dad & Me
Tonderai Munyevu
April, 1980. The British colony of Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe. A born-free, Tonderai Munyevu is part of the hopeful next generation from a country with a new leader, Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe, My Dad and Me charts the rise and fall of one of the most controversial politicians of the 20th century through the lens of Tonderai’s family story and his relationship with his father. Interspersing storytelling with Mugabe’s unapologetic speeches, this high-voltage one man show is a blistering exploration of identity and what it means to return ‘home’.
ISBN: 9781350186071 Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Sex, Drugs, Sexual Identity, Politics, Love, Family Content Warnings: Sex and Drug References, Homophobic Language
Most suited to KS5+ www.bloomsbury.com/mugabe-my-dad-and-me-9781350186071
Also by Tonderai Munyevu: The Moors
Set text: OCR AS/A Level English Language and Literature
Tribes
Nina Raine
A penetrating play about belonging, family and the limitations of communication.
Billy’s family, like every other, is a club, with its own private language, jokes and rules. You can be as rude as you like, as possessive as you like, as critical as you like. Arguments are an expression of love, and after all, you love each other more than anyone in the world. Don’t you?
But Billy, who is deaf, is the only one who actually listens. When he meets Sylvia, he decides he finally wants to be heard.
Tribes was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2010 and won Best New Play at the Off-West End Theatre Awards. It was produced Off-Broadway in 2012, winning the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play.
ISBN: 9781848421219 Publisher: Nick Hern Books Themes: Relationships, Family, Identity, Parenthood Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual References, Alcohol Use Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/tribes
Additional teaching resources: Nina Raine: Why I wrote Tribes interview on Royal Court website
Tribes by Nina Raine at Royal Court Theatre. l-r: Jacob Casselden (Billy), Harry Treadaway (Daniel), Michelle Terry (Sylvia)
Photograph by Donald Cooper, Photostage
Also by Nina Raine: Consent, Rabbit, Stories, Tiger Country
Exodus
Uma Nada-Rajah
Asiya Rao, Home Secretary, is about to announce ‘Project Womb’: a coastal defence system that will, she hopes, boost her bid for party leadership. Alongside her cut-throat and calculating advisor Phoebe, she embarks on a publicity stunt starting with a photo shoot by the white cliffs of Dover. But rather than the tide washing her reputation clean, something else washes up . . .
An outrageously funny political satire by a ferocious young writer, Exodus premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2022, presented by National Theatre of Scotland.
ISBN: 9780571380527 Publisher: Faber
Themes: Politics, Immigration, Identity, Society Content Warnings: Swearing, Sexual References
Most suited to KS5+ www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571380527-exodus
Additional teaching resources: National Theatre of Scotland video interview with the playwright
Pass Over
Antoinette Nwandu
Moses and Kitch are waiting for change. Inspired by Waiting for Godot and the Book of Exodus, Antoinette Nwandu fuses poetry, humour and humanity in a rare, politically charged play that exposes the experiences of young Black men in a world that refuses to see them.
Pass Over received its UK premiere at Kiln Theatre, London, 2020. It was the first play to reopen Broadway after the Covid-19 pandemic, at the August Wilson Theatre, New York, in 2021.
ISBN: 9780571361762 Publisher: Faber
Themes: Race, Friendship, Violence, History, Faith Content Warnings: Swearing, Use of the N-Word (see author’s note in the text), Death
Most suited to KS5+ www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571361762-pass-over
Additional teaching resources: Spike Lee film, available on Amazon Prime
The Gift
Janice Okoh
Brighton, 1862. A day in the life of Sarah, an African girl, adopted by Queen Victoria and raised in the Queen’s circles. Today is the eve of her having to return to Africa, but will she go?
The present. A day in the life of Sarah, a Black middle-class woman living in a Cheshire village with her husband and small child. They are paid a visit by well-meaning neighbours who have something to confess.
The two Sarahs meet Queen Victoria for tea. This won’t be your regular tea party…
This outrageous play about imperialism, cross-racial adoption, cultural appropriation – and tea – was premiered in 2020 on a UK tour by Eclipse Theatre Company and the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
ISBN: 9781848429475 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Performance, History, Race, Class, Women
Content Warnings: Swearing, Reference to Racism and Violence
Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/the-gift
Additional teaching resources: Q&A interview with the author, as part of Nick Hern Books’ NHB Playgroup series
Dreaming and Drowning
Kwame Owusu
Malachi’s been looking forward to a fresh start at uni for months. He’s settling in, he’s got a stack of books to read and he’s met someone new –Kojo, a musician with a megawatt smile, who’s basically perfect.
But something doesn’t feel right. He keeps having the same nightmare –sinking, crushed by the weight of the ocean – and it’s getting worse… A beast grows in the water, hungry, relentless, hunting him but always just out of sight. As the boundaries between nightmare and reality fracture, Malachi must fight harder than ever to stay afloat.
Dreaming and Drowning is an intimate and visceral deep-dive into the boundless mind of a young Black queer man wrestling with anxiety. It won the Mustapha Matura Award, was shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award, and was one of the winning plays in the RSC’s 37 Plays competition. It was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in November 2023.
ISBN: 9781839043048 Publisher: Nick Hern Books
Themes: Race, Sexual Identity, Childhood, Mental Health
Content Warnings: Swearing, Violence, Racism, Reference to Sex and Alchohol Use Most suited to KS5+ www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/dreaming-and-drowning
Also by Janice Okoh: Three Birds, Egusi Soup
One Under
Winsome Pinnock
Mother of Him
Evan Placey
Brenda’s face is splashed across the cover of every newspaper. For Matthew her son has committed a horrible crime, and as Brenda fights for him to be sentenced as a child, she learns it’s the laws inside the house that matter most: boys can become men, and a mother can at once become victim and monster. How far does a mother’s love go, and at what cost to herself?
The play premiered at The Courtyard Theatre, London, in 2010.
ISBN: 9780573701016
Publisher: Concord Theatricals
Themes: Parenting/Family, Identity, Religion, Race, Love, Youth
Content Warnings: Alcohol, Mild Adult Themes
Most suited to KS5
www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/s/9810/mother-of-him
When a young man jumps in front of the train Cyrus is driving, the enigmatic circumstances prompt him to search for answers. Pursuing the truth of Sonny’s final hours, Cyrus is led to laundrette worker Christine, as the past begins to catch up with them all.
An evocative thriller about the power of guilt, the quest for atonement and the fragility of human relationships, Winsome Pinnock’s One Under was first performed in 2005, and reimagined in a touring Graeae and Theatre Royal Plymouth production in 2019.
ISBN: 9780571358113 Publisher: Faber
Themes: Mental Health, Guilt, Class, Grief, Loneliness, Love, Family, Memory, Trauma Content Warnings: Swearing, Sex, Suicide Most suited to KS5+ www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571358113-one-under
Also by Winsome Pinnock: Rockets and Blue Lights; Leave Taking; Mules
Also by Evan Placey: Pronoun, Mother of Him, Holloway Jones
Additional teaching resources: Audio extract in the Black Plays Archive
The High Table
Temi Wilkey
With her wedding to Leah drawing nearer, Tara’s future is thrown into jeopardy when her Nigerian parents refuse to attend. This kind of love is unheard of, they say. It’s not African.
High above London, suspended between the stars, three of Tara’s ancestors are jolted from their eternal rest. Stubborn and opinionated, they keep watch as family secrets are spilled and the rift widens between Tara and her parents.
An epic family drama played out between the heavens and earth, The High Table is the hilarious and heart-breaking debut play from Temi Wilkey.
ISBN: 9781350147188
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Themes: Performance, Queer, Sexuality, Race, Prejudice, Identity Content Warnings: Mild Language
Most suited to KS5+
www.bloomsbury.com/high-table-9781350147188
I Am Yusuf And This Is My Brother by Amir Nizar Zuabi. Performed at The Young Vic . Starring Ali Suliman (Ali) and Samaa Wakeem (Nada)
Photograph by Donald Cooper, Photostage
bloomsbury.com/LitinColour