Book picks similar to
Never So Good by Howard Brenton


plays
drama
plays-seen-read
playscripts

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman


Peter L. Hays - 2008
    It has received worldwide productions, whether as a study of parent-child relationships, as in its landmark 1976 production directed by Miller in Beijing, or as a critique of Western capitalism and has been filmed once for television and twice for movies.

Comedians


Trevor Griffiths - 1976
    Telling jokes for money offers an escape from the building site or the milk round. But the humour is a deadly serious business that also involves anger, pain and truth.' Financial Times'Trevor Griffiths has not shown his brilliance as a writer more clearly than in Comedians.' Daily Telegraph

Everything in the Garden


Edward Albee - 1968
    Albee there is a theme beneath the surface, in this case the corruption of money and the rottenness of this bigoted exurbia where conformity to its illiberal standards and its hypocritical show of respectability is all that counts. The scene is the suburban home of Jenny and Richard, beautifully played by Barbara Bel Geddes and Barry Nelson. The only thing that seems to stand in the way of their happiness is a lack of money. The action starts in an entertaining comedy of manners style. Then abruptly there enters a Mrs. Toothe in the menacing and fascinating person of Beatrice Straight who offers Jenny the opportunity to make more money than they have ever had, to buy a greenhouse and all the other luxuries that they require for their garden and their lives. Richard's realization that their newfound money is being earned by his wife's whoring comes almost simultaneously with the return of their fourteen-year-old son from school and a champagne cocktail party which they are giving to impress their country club friends. As a result, his horror, disgust and rage has to be kept under wraps in order to keep up essential appearances until tragedy strikes, and Richard realizes that the assembled wives are all involved and their husbands are aware and condoning." More than that, they are prepared not merely to justify but defend the ends through which their means are attained and the devastated Richard, left in agonized despair by the ironic events that charge the final moments of the play, must face the fact of his own share in their communal guilt.

Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Other Plays


Lynn Nottage - 1998
    Her plays have been produced in many theatres across the U.S. including Second Stage (NY), South Coast Rep (Costa Mesa), Yale Repertory Theatre (New Haven), Alliance Theatre (Atlanta) and Steppenwolf (Chicago). She has won the Heideman and the White Bird awards and was a runner-up for the Susan Blackburn award.

A Steady Rain


Keith Huff - 2010
    But when a domestic disturbance call takes a turn for the worse, their friendship is put on the line. The result is a difficult journey into a moral gray area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a sobering backdrop of pimps, prostitutes, and criminal lowlifes.A dark duologue filled with sharp storytelling and biting repartee, A Steady Rain explores the complexities of a lifelong bond tainted by domestic affairs, violence, and the rough streets of Chicago.

Grasses of a Thousand Colors


Wallace Shawn - 2009
    Due to the scientific manipulation of the world’s crops, a destructive system for which Ben is partly responsible, there is very little nourishment left to be had, except for those most privileged and connected. Despite the dying off of most of the world, these characters manage to survive, at times tasting the good life, admiring the beauties of nature, feasting on animalistic sex, and finding love. The play raises issues of redemption, forgiveness, and responsibility as it recounts a somewhat passionate, erotic adventure story.Wallace Shawn is the author of Our Late Night (winner of the OBIE Award for Best Play), Marie and Bruce, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Designated Mourner, The Fever, and the screenplay for My Dinner with Andre, in which he starred. Grasses of a Thousand Colors, Shawn’s first full-length play in ten years, will be produced in the United Kingdom and the United States in 2009. Shawn is a well-known film and television actor. He resides in New York City.

Reckless - Acting Edition


Craig Lucas - 1985
    She meets and joins up with Lloyd Bophtelophti, a true "original" who has changed his name to avoid alimony payments and who now lives with a paraplegic named Pootie (who also pretends to be deaf in order to get double disability). Thus begins a series of picaresque escapades involving numerous psychiatrists, a TV game show, and, eventually, an ill-fated reunion with her husband. Filled with bizarre characters and events, the play reflects the fractured lifestyles which have become the norm for so many in our tenuous times.

Love, Love, Love


Mike Bartlett - 2010
    It follows one couple's forty year journey from initial burst of romance to full bloom of love and through stages of smoking, drinking, affection and paranoia. The play follows their idealistic teenage years in the 1960s to their marriage and family and ultimate divorce, which dissolves their marriage but leaves them free from acrimony. Their children, however, bitterly rail against their parents' irresponsibility and their relaxed, laissez-faire attitude.This play by Olivier award-winning writer Mike Bartlett questions whether the baby boomer generation is to blame for the debt-ridden and adrift generation of their children, now adults but far from stable and settled.

Book of Days - Acting Edition


Lanford Wilson - 2000
    Nowhere is this more evident than in his latest play, Book of Days, which has won the Best Play Award from the American Theater Critics Association. Book of Days is set in a small town dominated by a cheese plant, a fundamentalist church, and a community theater. When the owner of the cheese plant dies mysteriously in a hunting accident, Ruth, his bookkeeper, suspects murder. Cast as Joan of Arc in a local production of George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan, Ruth takes on the attributes of her fictional character and launches into a one-woman campaign to see justice done. In Book of Days, Lanford Wilson uses note-perfect language to create characters who are remarkable both for their comic turns and for their enormous depth. "Mr. Wilson's cosmic consciousness, intense moral concern, sense of human redemption and romantic effusion have climbed to a new peak." -- Alvin Klein, The New York Times; "A significant addition to the Lanford Wilson canon . . . his best work since Fifth of July . . . Book of Days manages to combine Wilson's signature character-based whimsy with an atypically strong narrative book and politically charged underpinnings." -- Chris Jones, Variety; "Book of Days is lively storytelling by one of our best playwrights." -- Lawrence DeVine, Detroit Free Press.

Our Man in Havana


Clive Francis - 2015
    So when the British Secret Service asks him to become their ‘man in Havana’ he can’t afford to say no. There’s just one problem…he doesn’t know anything! To avoid suspicion, he begins to recruit nonexistent sub-agents, concocting a series of intricate fictions. But Wormold soon discovers that his stories are closer to the truth than he could have ever imagined… In Clive Francis’ adaptation, Graham Greene’s classic satirical novel becomes a wonderfully funny and fast-moving romp.

We Met For A Reason


Subrat Saurabh - 2021
    It moves with how he went on a roller coaster ride of emotions while dealing with these pretty nymphs and his own idea of life, where relationships are beyond the emotional tie ups, have zero expectations and absolutely no commitment.Karan was fortunate enough to experience the real flavours of love in the form of warm affection, spicy sex and sour betrayal. His idea of romantic relationship is something which starts with a friendship, progresses with fingerlicious food at a restaurant, gets intense in a pub, gets sealed with a lip lock and later dissolves into a one-night stand. However, destiny had a different plan where he ended up falling in love with a girl, whom he thought to be, just another pawn in his journey of self-satisfaction.Sometimes even a short-lived relationship or an incident creates a huge impact on a person’s mind and may change the direction of his life. Life goes through a drastic change for Karan due to an incident and he realizes the importance of relationships.

Demanding Husband


Viktor Redreich - 2021
    I’m gonna make him mine.I’m young and fresh and pretty. I’m bouncy and bubbly and everybody tells me I’m gorgeous.I can get any man I want, and I deserve a man like Vince.He’s so dreamy, so accomplished, so powerful.His pathetic wife is nothing compared to me.Oh sure, she used to be a runway model, but let’s face it, she’s not that firm anymore, and the stretch marks are beginning to show.Which is why I don’t even care if Vince stays married to her.I’ll just have my fun with him and rub it in her face.I’ll invite myself over to his house and make his wife prepare a candle-lit dinner for us.I’ll cuddle and smooch Vince in front of his wife and mock her while she refreshes my drink.She'll be lurking in the dark watching me and her husband.Her jaw hanging and her abdomen clenched.She’ll probably be excited by the whole scene.Isn’t that pathetic?Whatever. I don’t care. She can watch.She’d better not do anything weird though.That would be so pathetic.

Bow Belles


Anna King - 1995
    With her mother Florrie missing, and her spineless father no use at all, it fell to Kate to look after the family. But life in East London at the end of the nineteenth century had never been easy, and with her cruel half-brother Alex becoming more and more difficult, she despaired of ever seeing her beloved mother again. Her fortunes change when one day, searching for Florrie around the docks, she meets a friendly face in the form of John Kelly, a cheery Irishman who rescues her from a tricky situation. Together with his grandparents, John reminds her how good life can be – and she soon dreams of happiness with him. But the dark shadow of Alex hangs over her still, and when he learns of her new friendship, his cruelty slides into madness. Harbouring unnatural desires for his beautiful half-sister, he will never allow the Irishman to take her away – but Kate has inherited her mother’s spirit as well as her looks, and vows to forge her own way: discovering what became of Florrie, and giving herself a deserved chance of love… Bow Belles is an unputdownable saga from a master of the genre, sure to enthral readers of Dilly Court, Sally Warboyes, and Katie Flynn.

The Wife Of A Kingpin


Twyla T - 2017
    and Patrice Balark teamed up to bring you book one of this new and exciting drama filled series, The Wife of a Kingpin: Malik & Micah’s Story. Of course, romance, sex, deceit, backbiting, and illegal dealings will be served up like a five course meal. After losing his mom at the age of 18 during his senior year of high school, Malik Jefferson took comfort in the only thing that made sense to him at the time... the streets. Malik along with his best friend and right hand man, Rico “Goo” Grady, were taken under the wings and learned everything street by the connect who happened to be dating Goo's mom. They started out as corner boys and were making smooth waves along the way. After the connects demise, Malik and Goo went from the corner to the top. After being challenged for the top position over and over, the duo answered the call of being as ruthless as they wanted to be, thus informing Chicago and the world a new Kingpin had arrived. Eighteen year old Micah Sanders is all about her business. Not only is she a full-time student at the University of Illinois, but she also works part-time while being an unknown boss on the side. Coming from a life of privilege, Micah doesn't rebel against her upbringing, but she prefers to rely on herself to make her own way in the world. Despite having it all, she is only missing one thing, her now deceased brother. While everyone else may have forgotten about his untimely death, it stays at the forefront of Micah’s mind along with seeking revenge on whomever committed this heinous crime. Will she get the answer to the question that has been nagging her for so long? The first encounter was at random. The second encounter was accidental. But, the third encounter and every one afterwards were by design. After crossing paths with the beautiful mystery woman, Malik had to have her. It had been a while since the last time a woman captivated and held his interest that much. However, it was something more to the lady than meets the eye. He was on a mission to claim and to make Micah his woman. Malik and Micah are on the verge of starting something great. But, what happens when two bosses collide? Who will rule in the end? I don't know, but find out in book one of this new series. Warning: This book contains a cliffhanger.

Take Me Away


Rishabh Bansal - 2020
    It is a story of love, passion, courage and belief. A story to give solace to a wavering, doubtful mind.Woven with pure love, 'Take Me Away' will fill your heart with with gratitude and help you lead a life of compassion. Written on a principal of 'Work is Karma', this book is a story of two seemingly same but different characters - Anaya and Ayan. The story will impart all the positivity and help you explore your inner beauty and true self.