Inua Ellams has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in British and international theatre. Collected together for the first time are four of Ellams' acclaimed plays, including The 14th Tale, Untitled, Black T-Shirt Collection and Knight Watch.
From the award-winning poet and playwright behind Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall is an epic story and a lyrical exploration of pride, power and female revenge.
Newsroom, political platform, local hot spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling. Barber Shop Chronicles, which was partly inspired by verbatim recordings, is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day. It was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is here publishedas a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Oladipo Agboluaje.
1988: at four-years-old, he short-circuited his home with a silver spoon and a Betamax video player. 1989: stopped a 700-strong student assembly with a tantrum. 1995: was chased through jungle growth by a crazed, frustrated French teacher called Monsieur Batcock...Misfit? Apparently – until a little family research reveals a pattern of mischief reaching as far back as a great grandfather, and so the story begins: I'm from a long line of trouble makers, of ash skinned Africans, born with clenched fists and a natural thirst for battle only quenched by breast milk. They'd suckle as if the white silk sliding between gums were liquid peace treaties from mums. The 14th Tale is a beautiful mellifluous narrative that tells the hilarious exploits of a natural born mischief, growing from the clay streets of Nigeria to rooftops in Dublin and finally to London by award-winning writer and performer Inua Ellams.
“The wild things they did with those tees. Some held together by wooden pins. Some strung to wear just once. Some of long thin detachable sleeves...” A T-shirt is something most people have. It is a common denominator like a pair of blue jeans or a pair of Converse All Stars. From Fringe First winner Inua Ellams, comes a new story about two foster brothers building a global t-shirt brand. On their journey from a market in Nigeria to a sweatshop in China, Matthew and Muhammed discover the consequences of success. The play tackles capitalism and exploitation, as well as sectarianism and homophobia in modern day Nigeria.
The first comprehensive undercover look at the terrorist movement no one is talking about. Men Who Hate Women examines the rise of secretive extremist communities who despise women and traces the roots of misogyny across a complex spider web of groups. It includes eye-opening interviews with former members of these communities, the academics studying this movement, and the men fighting back. Women's rights activist Laura Bates wrote this book as someone who has been the target of many hate-fueled misogynistic attacks online. At first, the vitriol seemed to be the work of a small handful of individual men... but over time, the volume and consistency of the attacks hinted at something bigger and more ominous. As Bates went undercover into the corners of the internet, she found an unseen, organized movement of thousands of anonymous men wishing violence (and worse) upon women. In the book, Bates explores: Extreme communities like incels, pick-up artists, MGTOW, Men's Rights Activists and more The hateful, toxic rhetoric used by these groups How this movement connects to other extremist movements like white supremacy How young boys are targeted and slowly drawn in Where this ideology shows up in our everyday lives in mainstream media, our playgrounds, and our government By turns fascinating and horrifying, Men Who Hate Women is a broad, unflinching account of the deep current of loathing toward women and anti-feminism that underpins our society and is a must-read for parents, educators, and anyone who believes in equality for women. Praise for Men Who Hate Women: "Laura Bates is showing us the path to both intimate and global survival."—Gloria Steinem "Well-researched and meticulously documented, Bates's book on the power and danger of masculinity should be required reading for us all."—Library Journal "Men Who Hate Women has the power to spark social change."—Sunday Times
Candy-Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars is a document of transformations: the possibilities that walk the fine line between the real and the surreal, the mundane and the extraordinary. Contemporary culture clashes with mythology as Bruce Lee angles for space alongside Prometheus on pages where twin towers burn and yellow hues bleed into London sunsets. Yet is is also a text of conversations: the commerce of possibilities, the transformations that memory can inflict on the present, the clear light that today can cast on yesterdays. And through it all there is music - both references to music and musicians and a music of language that Inua Ellams seems to be exploring, testing, riffing on.
Put your headphones on, close your eyes. Embrace the possibility of the life-changing power of music. And perhaps one of these songs will change your life too. Music can inspire our greatest creations, salve our deepest wounds, make us fall in – or out of – love. It can also be a window into another’s soul. Based on the popular live storytelling series, OneTrackMinds is a collection of twenty-five compelling answers to the question, ‘What was the song that changed your life?’ Featuring pieces from a stellar cast of contributors including Peter Tatchell, Inua Ellams, Cash Carraway, Rhik Samadder, Ingrid Oliver and Joe Dunthorne, alongside some of the UK’s most exciting new voices, the book compiles many of the standout stories from the live show so far. Just as rich and varied are the songs themselves, by artists ranging from Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell to Aphex Twin and the Replacements via Tupac, Prince and the Spice Girls. The result is an entertaining, enlightening musical guide to the best of what makes us human.
The play focuses on the lives of three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, young women of the Russian gentry who try to fill their days in order to construct a life that feels meaningful while surrounded by an array of military men, servants, husbands, suitors, and lovers, all of whom constitute a distractions from the passage of time and from the sisters' desire to return to their beloved Moscow.
The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an ancient culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death. Flora 717 is a sanitation worker, a member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive where work and sacrifice are the highest virtues and worship of the beloved Queen the only religion. But Flora is not like other bees. With circumstances threatening the hive’s survival, her curiosity is regarded as a dangerous flaw but her courage and strength are an asset. She is allowed to feed the newborns in the royal nursery and then to become a forager, flying alone and free to collect pollen. She also finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum, where she discovers mysteries about the hive that are both profound and ominous. But when Flora breaks the most sacred law of all—daring to challenge the Queen’s fertility—enemies abound, from the fearsome fertility police who enforce the strict social hierarchy to the high priestesses jealously wedded to power. Her deepest instincts to serve and sacrifice are now overshadowed by an even deeper desire, a fierce maternal love that will bring her into conflict with her conscience, her heart, her society—and lead her to unthinkable deeds. Thrilling, suspenseful and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees gives us a dazzling young heroine and will change forever the way you look at the world outside your window.