Dinner 'A cracking black comedy that has you laughing uproariously one moment and jumping with shock the next . . . For those with strong stomachs, Dinner offers a delicious feast of comedy and the macabre.' Daily Telegraph Dying for It 'A subversive Russian classic: one that addresses the ultimate question of "why live?"' Guardian 'The play, freely adapted by Moira Buffini, presents a glorious gallery of comic types.' Independent Welcome to Thebes 'It's thrilling. Moira Buffini's strange and daring play is moving, wise, funny, horrifying . . . Full of resonances you weren't expecting, jokes you didn't see coming . . . It raises huge questions with wit.' The Times Handbagged Winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre 'A phenomenon.' Sunday Telegraph 'Perfectly pitched between the comic and the serious.' Guardian

Hallway-dwelling Semyon is unemployed and disheartened with life. When his last hope for self-respect disappears, Semyon decides to take his own life. But word gets out and he finds himself inundated with sympathetic visitors - begging him to die on their behalf. Suddenly he is an important man, and on the night of his proposed suicide events spiral out of control. Moira Buffini has freely adapted Nikolai Erdman's celebrated satirical comedy 'The suicide', banned by Stalin before a single performance.-- Back cover.

Star-crossed lovers, against-all-odds friendship, and a brutally unforgiving world make this first in a trilogy utterly unforgettable. We’re two songs joined. And there’s a word for that. A harmony. Elsa is used to hiding the most important parts of herself—her feelings for Rye, her distaste for a world ruled by men, and, most crucially, her gift of songlight. She buries that secret deep inside. In Brightland, those with songlight are called Unhumans and are abhorred. Rye is the only other person Elsa has known with songlight, and their shared bond has brought them together. Elsa’s world begins to fall apart one desperate, heart-wrenching day and she doesn’t know where to turn until a girl appears before her. But the girl isn’t really there—her songlight has been drawn to Elsa’s frantic grief. Elsa lives in a remote seaside village; Nightingale, her new friend, lives in a city hundreds of miles away with her father, a government official responsible for rooting out Unhumans. The two never expected to connect via songlight. But when they do, and when they realize the extent of their power, they’ll be thrust in the middle of a war that threatens their very existence. From an award-winning screenwriter making her novel debut comes this powerful, page-turning trilogy perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir and Adrienne Young.

Aly is struggling with all the pressures of being a teenager: family, school, friends and her own insecurities. Then she discovers wonder.land - a mysterious online world where, perhaps, she can create a whole new life. The web becomes her looking-glass - but will Aly see who she really is? A new musical inspired by Lewis Carroll's iconic story, Moira Buffini's wonder.land was created with Damon Albarn and Rufus Norris and premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2015 in a co-production with the National Theatre, London, where it transferred in November of the same year.

This place is about to blow. A violent storm sweeps the coast. Diana Stuckley and her daughter are struggling to keep the roof on their run-down manor house, when neighbours and strangers begin to appear on their doorstep, seeking shelter from the floods. One of these unexpected arrivals is Ted Farrier, the charismatic leader of a right-wing organisation: he could be Diana's saviour - or could pull the fragile household to pieces. Stranded together, this explosive mix of people must survive the weather, and each other. Manor by Moira Buffini premiered at the National Theatre, London, in April 2020.

I've spent a lifetime in the ebb and flow of power It brings its gifts But then it's an intoxicant One must beware lest one consumes too much The monarch. Her most powerful subject. Two women meet once a week for eleven years. One believes there is no such thing as society. The other has vowed to serve it. Moira Buffini's wickedly funny hit comedy imagines what the world's most powerful women, Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth II, talked about behind closed palace doors. Winner of the 2014 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, Handbagged was first performed in September 2013 and returned to Kiln Theatre, London, in September 2022. 'A phenomenon.' Sunday Telegraph 'Perfectly pitched between the comic and the serious.' Guardian

On her tenth birthday, Marianne is forced to bed with a fever. Picking up a pencil she starts to draw a house. That night she dreams. As Marianne s sleeps, she finds herself transported to the house she has drawn, and the mysterious world that lies beyond. Together with a strange but familiar boy, she embarks on an adventure that runs between reality and dream. Catherine Storr s classic children s novel is adapted for the stage by Moira Buffini. Marianne Dreams premiered at the Almeida Theatre, London, in December 2007.

He put this gun into my hand and made me human once again. Faced with an impoverished population, a shattered infrastructure and a volatile army, the first democratic president of Thebes, Eurydice, promises peace to her nation. Without the aid of Theseus, the leader of the vastly wealthy state of Athens, she doesn't stand a chance. But Theseus is arrogant, mercurial and motivated by profit. A swaggering opposition circles, impatient for insurrection. The body of the former dictator lies unburied. Set in the present day but inspired by ancient myth, Welcome to Thebes offers a passionate exploration of an encounter between the world's richest and the world's poorest countries in the aftermath of a brutal war. Moira Buffini's Welcome to Thebes premiered at the National Theatre, London, in June 2010.

Set amongst the vibrant, intense cacophony of North West London, NW Trilogy is a collection of three vivid stories, told over one performance, that remember and celebrate people who changed the course of history. The personal is political in these soulful explorations of what it means to be part of one of the most dynamic communities in the world. First, we reel to a dance hall in 'County Kilburn' in Moira Buffini's Dance Floor where the Guinness flows, the music never stops and for homesick Aoife, there's far more at stake than a dance. In Roy Williams' bittersweet Life of Riley, Paulette is on a journey to connect with her estranged father Riley, a reggae musician once part of the influential Trojan Records scene, who can't seem to let go of the past. And, Suhayla El-Bushra's Waking/Walking introduces us to Anjali, a wife, mother and newly arrived migrant following Idi Amin's expulsion of the Asian minority from Uganda, who is torn between not making a fuss and seizing her moment to take a stand as the Grunwick dispute unfolds. NW Trilogy is powerful, funny and epic and shows us how we can change the world from our doorstep. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere as NW Trilogy at Kiln Theatre, London, in August 2021.

Moira Buffini romps through the centuries from the Romans to the present day, charting the changing fortunes of place, time and people at 29 Trick Street. Buffini brings her usual lightness of touch to this incisive, funny and sharply observed play about changing social, economic and sexual mores. 'Loveplay' was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Pit Theatre, London, in February 2001.