Archives: Plays

Author: David Greig

Year: 2010

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Being Norwegian centers on Sean, newly released from prison, who invites Lisa to his flat. As they share drinks, the two outsiders connect across emotional and cultural distance, exploring loneliness, identity, and the “darkness” within themselves, with dark humour and intimacy. It first aired on BBC Radio Scotland in 2003 and premiered on stage in Glasgow in 2007.

Publication: Greig, D. (2010). Being Norwegian. In Selected Plays 1999–2009 (pp. 420–454). London: Faber and Faber.

Author: Eve Leigh

Year: 2019

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Spooky Action at a Distance takes place over a single day in January 2016 in south-east Kent, as tensions flare between fascist and anti-fascist demonstrators in Dover. Wendy heads to the protest carrying a brick, while anti-fascist activist Katie ends up in hospital with a head injury. As her friend Elliott talks to police, the complex and conflicting truths behind the day’s events begin to emerge, exposing the murky realities of anti-immigration sentiment in Britain.

Publication: Leigh, E. (2019). Spooky Action at a Distance. In Spooky Action at a Distance (pp. 1–47). London: Nick Hern Books.

Author: Henry Naylor

Year: 2018

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Borders is a two-hander that intertwines the stories of Sebastian Nightingale, a renowned war photographer whose career was shaped by an encounter with Osama bin Laden, and a young Syrian graffiti artist whose act of rebellion forces her to flee the Assad regime. As Syria descends into civil war, she ends up six months pregnant on an overcrowded fishing boat in the Mediterranean. Told mostly in monologue, the play explores idealism, ethics, East–West relations, and the human cost of the migrant crisis.

Publication: Naylor, H. (2018). Borders. In Borders (pp. ix–50). London: Nick Hern Books.

Author: Peter Gill

Year: 2009

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Another Door Closed follows two ageing sisters whose quiet, respectable lives are disrupted by the arrival of a younger man. Bearing a gift and intimate knowledge of their past, he reveals himself as the illegitimate son of their father and reminds them of their immigrant roots and turbulent family history. As buried memories surface, the women’s settled existence is shaken, exposing long-hidden tensions, co-dependence, and the enduring pull of the past.

Publication: Gill, P. (2009). Another Door Closed. In Another Door Closed (pp. 2–63). London: Faber and Faber.

Author: Tena Štivičić

Year: 2007

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Tena Štivičić’s Fragile! (2007) portrays Balkan immigrants in London chasing dreams while burdened by war’s legacy. Mila longs for musicals, Marko for comedy, both tied to Michi’s immigrant bar. Journalist Erik is shaken when Tiasha, his lover thought dead, returns after years of trafficking, exposing how hope and identity fracture under history’s weight.

Publication: Štivičić, T. (2007). Fragile!. In Fragile! (pp. iv–87). London: Nick Hern Books.

Author: Philip Ridley

Year: 2013

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Feathers in the Snow is a magical family play spanning 500 years, following a chain of extraordinary events sparked by one decision. With talking animals, greedy rulers, war, and enchanted journeys, it weaves tales of survival, migration, and hope. Through epic adventures, it explores how stories shape our lives and our search for a place called home.

Publication: Ridley, P. (2013). Feathers in the Snow. In Feathers in the Snow (pp. 2–121). London: Methuen Drama.

Author: Edward Bond

Year: 2012

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: The Under Room, part of Edward Bond’s The Chair Plays trilogy, confronts the clash between law and humanity. When a refugee hides in Joan’s cellar, she must decide whether to betray him or help him escape. Using Bond’s stark language and symbolic doubling of the refugee as man and dummy, the play exposes trauma, survival, and society’s destructive moral contradictions.

Publication: Bond, E. (2012). The Under Room. In The Chair Plays (pp. 38–73). London: Methuen Drama.

Author: Tom Murphy

Year: 2006

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: The House is Tom Murphy’s searing drama of exile, return, and obsession. Set in 1950s Ireland, emigrant workers return each summer, caught between home and abroad, belonging nowhere. Among them, Christy Cavanagh—prosperous yet restless—fixates on the De Burca family and their house, seeing it as his lost paradise. His attempt to claim it, driven by memory and obsession, spirals into violence and tragedy, revealing the destructive cost of longing and displacement.

Publication: Murphy, T. (2006). The House. In Plays: 5 (pp. 182–293). London: Methuen Drama.

Author: Rachel De-lahay

Year: 2013

Geography: Europe > Northern Europe > United Kingdom

Synopsis: Routes by Rachel De-lahay interweaves stories of people caught in the web of immigration and identity. Olufemi, in Nigeria, seeks a false passport to reunite with his family in Britain. Bashir, a long-term resident, is trapped in legal limbo. His teenage friend Kola, adrift between parents and the law, finds unexpected kinship. Through these characters, the play exposes the human cost of exile, bureaucracy, and belonging.

Publication: De-lahay, R. (2013). Routes. In Routes (pp. 3–74). London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama.