READING LIST

[SCRIPT NAME, AUTHOR, DATE, GENRE - SYNOPSIS]

**THIS LIST IS EDITED MONTHLY.

  • SKYLIGHT, David Hare, 1995, DRAMA - On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra receives an unexpected visit from her former lover. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship only to find themselves locked in a dangerous battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires.

  • ADULTS, Kieran Hurley, 2023, COMEDY - Amongst a raft of anonymous Air BnBs in Edinburgh, Zara is running her own business and trying to make their way in the world. A new client has arrived, but their colleague is running late. Tensions become high.

  • COMMON TONGUE, Fraser Scott, 2024, COMEDY/DRAMA - "Some folk are happy tae listen tae thairsel speak. A cannae unnerstaun that." This is a play aboot imperfect Scots. A fast-pace and quick witted play exploring the impact of culture, identity and its intersections in Scotland.

  • LITTLE LIGHT, Alice Birch, 2015, DRAMA - In a house by the sea, a couple make careful preparations for a once-a-year ritual of remembering. Teddy is desperate to let in the light, ripping down staircases and smashing through walls, while Alison clings stubbornly to the shadows.

  • BLAST OFF STARBURST, Catriona MacLeod, 2024, DRAMA - A time-bending drama about reuniting with all the magic we leave behind when we grow up. Shona is bereaved and very reluctantly in therapy. As if losing her mum isn’t enough, the universe is expanding at a rate of 41.9 miles per second and sometimes the pointlessness of our tiny existence is too much to bear. Time bends, and past and present versions of Shona collide when she sorts through childhood relics her mum kept and left behind.

  • BLACKBIRD, David Harrower, 2005, DRAMA - An uneasy reunion between a woman and a middle-aged man fifteen years after he sexually abused her when she was twelve.

  • THIS RESTLESS HOUSE, Zinnie Harris, 2016, DRAMA - A reimagined version of The Orestes. Aeschylus’ Oresteia opens with Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter to the gods; an act which sets in motion a bloody cycle of revenge and counter-revenge. When he in turn is killed at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, their son Orestes takes up the mantle of avenging his father, continuing the bloodshed until peace is ultimately found in the rule of law.

  • HOTDOG, Ellen Ritchie, 2024, DARK COMEDY - Alone, dressed as a sausage in a bun and armed with only a bottle of lemonade, Hotdog is determined to be the life of the party. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?Hotdog is a new dark comedy exploring the aftermath of a traumatic event and how it feels to lose yourself when you thought you were only just beginning.

  • LOST GIRLS/AT BUS STOPS, Róisín Sheridan Bryson, 2024, EPIC QUEER ROMANCE - It’s the Edinburgh Fringe and the city is suddenly bursting at the seams. Jess and Iona are searching... for the greatest show, the finest view, that illusive best chip. As they wrestle with their past and try to avoid the future, they struggle to find the words to confess what they’re really feeling about each other.

  • MOORCROFT, Eilidh Loan, 2023, DRAMA - Inspired by true stories, Moorcroft follows a group of young lads in search of an escape from their working class lives. But can playing football save them from the challenges they face and make them the men they want to be?

  • BEGINNING, David Eldridge, 2017, DRAMA - Laura is 38, single, childless and with no immediate family; Danny is 42, divorced, living with his mother and has not seen his daughter for a number of years. The play begins with them nearly kissing and charts their journey in real time as they both seek to get back to that point.

  • FOR BLACK BOYS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE HUE GETS TOO HEAVY, Ryan Calais Cameron, 2021, DRAMA - Set in the rough form of a therapy session, six Black men take turns to open up about the beliefs and experiences that have shaped them into the people they’ve become. It’s a powerful and deeply moving meditation on Black masculinity and Black life in Britain. But underneath all the pain, there’s an abundance of light, laughter and boyish energy too.