This DVD uses extracts of Mark Wheeller's plays for young people and interviews with the author to illustrate a number of dramatic and theatrical devices. The DVD is aimed at Drama GCSE and AS level candidates in the preparation of performance work. These issue-based plays are performed by TIE companies across the UK and are regularly used for study in schools.  The extracts are performed by drama students and a voice-over introduces each scene and the device or technique which is to be highlighted.

An opportunity to catch some of the hottest new writing for young people is currently on offer from Brighton to County Kildare. The National Theatre New Connections programme has commissioned ten of the UK's foremost playwrights to come up with new plays for young people aged 11-19.  These are being performed by 200 companies in regional centres across the UK from April to June 2008, culminating in a week of all ten plays at the National Theatre in London.

Yorkshire-based Pilot Theatre are touring their adaptation of Fungus the Bogeyman, a beautifully-illustrated children's book written by Raymond Briggs 31 years ago.  The audience at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich soon warmed to the family of Bogeymen living underground, spending their time keeping slimey and revelling in a thoroughly "disgusting" life-style.  The phrase "Mum told me to eat my greens" gains a whole new meaning.

While the audience (4 years plus) may be far younger than the usual teenagers that Pilot tours to, the company retain their multimedia style with the use of an impressive split-level set, lighting effects, music and projections helping to create the seamy underworld of the Bogies, contrasting dramatically with the sunnier climes of the surface-dwelling 'dry-cleaners'.   

Edward Gorey died in 2000, the author of 103 books filled with his inimitable dark Edward Lear-esque drawings. Hoipolloi have taken one of these stories as the inspiration for their latest lugubrious show. The play is set in a grand Edwardian house occupied by a grotesque household (somewhat akin to a the Addams Family), played by the versatile and darkly-amusing company of five. The 80-minute play explores - in a highly entertaining fashion - the borderline between reality and illusion as the Doubtful Guest hilariously wreaks havoc by invading their privacy and wrecking their strict routines.

'An actor is like a sculptor: before you can start shaping an expressive figurine, you need to soften the clay - which, in this case, is your body...'

This new book from Bella Merlin makes the work of one of our greatest acting gurus accessible to teachers, students, actors and directors through accessible explanation and dozens of practical exercises. Thanks to Nick Hern Books for permission to publish these extracts.

Written and directed by David Farmer, with music by Kenny Forrest.

Three actor/musicians. 50 minutes. Script and music available.

Originally a co-production with the Lyric, Hammersmith and Tiebreak Theatre Company, Jack and the Beanstalk toured throughout the UK in 2005. Read interviews with David Farmer about the production at bbc.co.uk and Derby Telegraph

'A beautifully imagined account of this children's favourite, performed with gusto and real storytelling suspense.'
- The Sunday Times

'Intelligent, humorous, inventive theatre for young people - achieved with remarkable imagination and flair.'
- The Stage

'There is a wonderful lament by Milkywhite the torch-singing cow, while unlikely musical instruments include scrubbing brushes in buckets and flower pots on strings.'
- Time Out

'Truly a flatshare made in heaven... These humorous stories, adapted by David Farmer, make a cockle-warming valedictory show for Tiebreak Theatre Company. Liberal scatterings of boisterous play, whoops, squeaks and songs on stage prompt matching outbreaks of exuberance among the audience.'
- Time Out, March 2006 (read full review)

'Characters that stand alongside the greats of children’s literature. Perfectly judged humour, perfectly paced dialogue.'
- The Sunday Telegraph.

'The BEST children's performance I have ever seen - and we do go to the theatre with Matilda our daughter (age 4) a LOT! Thankyou!'
- Audience comment at Warwick Arts Centre.

MY UNCLE ARLY (2002)
Written by Shôn Dale-Jones and David Farmer.

Originally performed as a co-production by Hoipolloi and Tiebreak Theatre Companies. Nominated for Total Theatre Award (Edinburgh 2004). Selected for Festival of Firsts by the Royal Opera House (2004). Toured in Los Angeles and New York (2005). Hoipolloi is planning to remount the production in 2009.