The Methuen Drama Book of 21st Century British Plays: Blue/Orange; Elmina’s Kitchen; Realism; Gone Too Far!; Pornography

The Methuen Drama Book of 21st Century British Playsshowcases five of the best new plays from the first decade of the twenty-first century. A perfect reminder of the relevance, vitality and innovation of British theatre, this collection represents some of the most exciting plays to emerge in recent years.

Joe Penhall’s multi-award-winning Blue/Orangewas heralded as ’one of the best new plays in the National’s history’ (Sunday Times). Set in a mental hospital it provides a riveting exploration of racism, health and power, and was the winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2001. Elmina’s Kitchenby Kwame Kwei-Armah, about gun crime and the struggle to make a living on Hackney’s Murder Mile, marked the emergence of a major new writing talent. ’An exquisite tragi-comedy for our times’ (Herald) Neilson’s Realism dramatises the everyday life and increasingly bizarre fantasies and thoughts of its protagonist with comic zeal and inspired inventiveness. Gone Too Far!explores a London community divided by race and prejudice. The first play to be written about the London 7/7 terrorist bombings, Simon Stephens’ Pornographytells seven entwining stories of people’s lives during the day leading up to the catastrophic event.

Joe PenhallPenhall Plays: 2 was published in 2008. Kwame Kwei-Armah’s first collection of plays was published in July 2009. Anthony Neilson: Neilson Plays: 2 published in 2008. Bola Agbaje had her first play Gone Too Far! produced at the Royal Court in 2007. Simon Stephens won the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2005. Stephens Plays 2 published in 2009. Editor Aleks Sierz is the theatre critic of Tribune and a freelance theatre reviewer and writer.