Frontline Intelligence 3: Europe; Uganda; Some Voices; Ashes and Sand

Description

The third volume in an anthology series of the most original and exciting new plays for the nineties Europe, set in an international rail station linking several countries examines the cultural shifts of the post Berlin wall years and is "a fierce, compassionate mightily ambitious drama...There is a sharp analytic intelligence...about this gripping play." (The Scotsman) Uganda is set in a front sitting room but explores children's love of their fathers, it won the Thames Television Best Play Award in 1994 and "confirms my feeling that Johnson is on the threshold of great things" (Guardian). Some Voices by Joe Penhall, looks at mental illness and the love between two brothers (it has since been made into a feature film), it is "haunting and jazzily contemporary. Penhall's post-Pinter is promising" (Observer). Ashes and Sand reflects on the world of school leavers in England's "Deep South" and won the George Devine Award in 1994: "Judy Upton's vicious little hand grenade of a play...takes us into the bleak world of a violent girl gang living in a seaside resort." (Independent)

David Greig's plays include A Savage Reminiscence and And the Opera House Remained Unbuilt (Edinburgh Festival), Petra's Explanation (Traverse, Edinburgh), Stalinland (Edinburgh Festival - Fringe First, and Glasgow Citizens') and The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (Paines Plough, Lyric Hammersmith, Tron Glasgow and tour). TV: Nightlife (winner BBC Double Exposure comptition. Radio: Copper Sulphate, The Commuter. Judith Johnson is from Liverpool, and has had many stage plays produced including Working Away (Soho Poly, 1989); The Edge and Le Camp (commuinity plays which toured London's East End); Death Party (devised for the Liverpool Everyman's 'Acting Up' course); The Scrappie for Red Ladder Theatre Company, which did a national tour of youth clubs; and Los Escombros, commissioned by the National Theatre Education Department and performed by the National's Young People's Theatre Group in 1992. Nowheresville was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award and Somewhere was produced at the Liverpool Everyman and in the Cottesloe Theatre at the National in 1993. It is published by Methuen Drama in Frontline Intelligence 1. Uganda was produced at the Royal Court Theatre in association with the National's Studio in 1995, and is published by Methuen Drama in Frontline Intelligence 3. Stone Moon, a short play for young actors was published by Methuen Drama in Making Scenes 1. Joe Penhall's plays include Some Voices (1994); Pale Horse (1995); In Love and Understanding (1997); The Bullet (1998), Blue/Orange (2000 - Evening Standard Best Play Award, the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play and the 2001 Olivier Award for Best New Play), Haunted Child (2011), Birthday (2012) and Sunny Afternoon (2014). Judy Upton was born in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex. Her first stage play, Everlasting Rose, was produced at London New Play Festival in 1992. In 1994 she won the George Devine Award for Ashes and Sand, which was produced in that year at the Royal Court Theater Upstairs, and the Verity Bargate award for Bruises, which was co-produced by the Royal Court and Soho Theatre Company at the Theatre Upstairs in 1995. Judy's other stage plays are: Temple (The Room, Richmond Orange Tree, 1995); The Shorewatchers House (The Red Room, Kentish Town 1996); Stealing Souls (The Red Room, 1996); Sunspots (The Red Room, 1996, transferred to BAC); People on the River (The Red Room at the Finborough, 1997); To Blusher with Love (Winner of the Open Stages Competition, 1997); The Girlz (The Room, Richmond Orange Tree, 1998); Know Your Rights (The Red Room at BAC, 1998) and Sliding with Suzanne (Royal Court/Out-of-Joint, 2001). Upton is currently writer in residence with The Red Room.