The first eight astonishing plays by Enda Walsh, 'one of the most dazzling wordsmiths of contemporary theatre' (Guardian).
Bursting onto the theatre scene in 1996 with Disco Pigs, Enda Walsh has delivered a sustained fusillade of strikingly original plays ever since. This volume, with a Foreword by the author, contains:
The Ginger Ale Boy (1995), Walsh's very first, previously unpublished play, a Cork cabaret about a ventriloquist who loses control.
Disco Pigs (1996), his breakthrough play, winner of the 1997 George Devine and Stewart Parker Awards, a play that 'does for Irish kids what Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting did for young Scots' (Daily Telegraph).
Misterman (1999, revised in 2012), in which we meet Thomas Magill on his obsessive mission to bring God to the townsfolk of Inishfree.
bedbound (2000), his Fringe First Award-winning play, in which a father and daughter are trapped in their own compulsive and claustrophobic story.
The Small Things (2005), a 'harrowingly precise and poetic' (Guardian) exploration of language and our need for words to survive.
Chatroom (2005), a chilling tale of teenage manipulation that was written for the National Theatre's 2005 Connections season.
Also included are two previously unpublished short plays, How These Desperate Men Talk (2004) and Lynndie's Gotta Gun (2005), written during Walsh's time working with European theatremakers.
'Walsh's work is unique for stark brutality, painful honesty and complex and beautiful language... this collection is a joy. It is like discovering a box of forgotten, unknown or half remembered treasures.'
— Youth Drama Ireland
Author Biography:
Enda Walsh is a multi-award-winning Irish playwright. He lives in London. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and has been performed internationally since 1998.
His recent plays include: Medicine at the 2021 Edinburgh International Festival and Galway International Arts Festival; Arlington at the 2016 Galway International Festival; an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits for the Royal Court (2015); Ballyturk and Room 303 at the 2014 Galway International Arts Festival; Misterman, presented by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland, London and New York (2011–2012); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America and London, from 2010–2011, The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008–2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007–2010.
He collaborated with David Bowie on the musical Lazarus (New York Theatre Workshop, 2015, and West End, 2016), and won a Tony Award in 2012 for writing the book for the musical Once, seen on Broadway, in the West End and on a US tour.
His other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (National Theatre), which played at the National Theatre and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006–2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Ireland (2005).
His early plays include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca).
His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4), winner of the Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.