ISBN: 135000197X 9781350001978

Category: Performing Arts / Theater / Playwriting

Page count: 312

HighTide Theatre Festival was founded in 2006 and has since become one of the most prolific homes of new writing. It has been described by the Telegraph as &quot;one of the little gems of the artistic calendar in Britain&quot; and by the Daily Mail as &quot;famous for championing emerging playwrights and contemporary theatre&quot;.<br><br>2016 marks ten years of HighTide, during which time numerous emerging playwrights and new plays have shot to prominence.<br><br>This anniversary volume brings together four of the key plays that have come out of HighTide Theatre Festival's programme during this time: <i><br><br>Ditch </i>by Beth Steel is a clear-eyed look at how we might behave when the conveniences of our civilisation are taken away, and a frightening vision of a future that could all too easily be ours.<br><br><i>peddling </i>by Harry Melling is a poetic monologue about a young homeless man, which confronts whether it's a good thing to turn a blind eye and let people get on with their lives, or whether that's exactly how people fall through the cracks.<br><br><i>The Big Meal</i> by American writer Dan LeFranc is a deeply comic and touching drama that looks at love, marriage, raising children and the general onslaught of life.<br><br><i>Lampedusa </i>by Anders Lustgarten follows the day-to-day life of those whose job it is to enforce our harsh new rules on immigration: an Italian coastguard and a payday lender from Leeds. <br><br>All now established in their own right, these four plays demonstrate HighTide's extraordinary role in identifying and nurturing writers tackling some of the biggest issues of today.<br><br>The volume was published to coincide with HighTide's 10th annual festival in September 2016 and features an introduction by HighTide Artistic Director, Steven Atkinson.