Josef K., thirty, lives in a large town in an unspecified country when he is summoned to answer a charge and appear in the courtroom for his trial. Franz Kafka evokes all the realities of trial without any of the specifics in a society that seems to have degraded into chaos: a squalid environment, rats, and yellow liquid shooting out of a hole in the wall.

The Turn of the Screw is a gothic ghost story, described by Oscar Wilde as 'a most wonderful, lurid, poisonous little tale'. An unnamed governess lives in an isolated country house with her two charges. When the governess begins to see ghostly apparitions roaming the grounds, she does everything she can to protect the children, but the situation soon spirals out of control. This uneasy and sinister novella has influenced a number of films including...

"Their lives set on a nightmarish detour by civil war, the captive wives of a Liberian rebel officer form a hardscrabble sisterhood. With the arrival of a new girl who can read--and the return of an old one who can kill--their possibilities are quickly transformed. Drawing on reserves of wit and compassion, these defiant survivors ask: When the fog of battle lifts, could a different destiny emerge? Eclipsed offers a chilling, humanizing and surprisingly...

The 1917 production of his play, "Dear Brutus," was one in a long string of successes for Barrie. The play, set in the manor of a mysterious man called Lob, takes a group of ordinary men and women and asks the question: What might happen to a person given the opportunity to remake their life? The guests are whisked into a dream-like world where they are shown what their lives "might have been." Throughout the play, Barrie imparts to his audience deep...

"'The instant I saw the photograph my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race.' Does Rosalind Franklin know how precious her photography is? In the race to discover the secret of life it could be the one to hold the key. With rival scientists everywhere looking for the answer, who will be first to see it and more importantly, understand it? Anna Ziegler's extraordinary play looks at the woman who helped unlock DNA's double helix and asks what is...

The classic story from George Orwell is adapted for the stage by Duncan Macmillan in this new version of 1984. The idea of the big-brother world and being constantly under surveillance is just as relevant now as when Orwell penned this classic.

Depressed and plagued by insomnia, King Philippe V of Spain lies awake in his chamber. The Queen, desperate to find a cure, hears of Farinelli--a castrato with a voice so divine it has the power to captivate all who hear it. Even Philippe is astonished when Farinelli sings, and begs him to stay. But will Farinelli, one of the greatest celebrities of his time, choose a life of solitude over fame and fortune in the opera-houses of Europe? And will his...

"Deep in the bowels of a New York Public Library lies a dragon: a monstrous coal furnace that Sharon's father, the live-in custodian, must feed every night. A moving examination of family secrets, forgiveness, and the power of language, Feeding the Dragon explores Sharon's life growing up in the library and the fire she never allowed to fade." -- page [4] of cover.