Methuen Drama Butler Plays 2: Airbag; I'll Be the Devil; Faces in the Crowd; Juicy Fruits; 69; Do It!(Contemporary Dramatists)

Butler Plays: Two brings together a selection of Leo Butler's work, currently both published and previously unpublished, covering the years 2007 to 2013. It showcases his incredible variety in style and tone, and brings together some of his best-loved works alongside some of his lesser known pieces. I'll Be The Devil (RSC/Tricycle Theatre, 2008): With a poetic fearlessness, Leo Butler looks at what happens when a brutal foreign power is in intimate and callous contact with the primitive heart of an ancient society. Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court Theatre, 2008): Faces in the Crowd is a darkly comic play that offers a unique insight into twenty-first century London and the debts we accrue in the wake of seeking out our ambitions. Juicy Fruits (Paines Plough and Òran Mór, 2011): a one-act comedy set in a coffee shop in which two old friends from university meet again after many years. 69 (Natural Shocks Theatre Company; Pleasance, 2012): a series of 69 short vignettes, all on the subject of sex, offering a glimpse on a whole range of issues surrounding sexuality. Airbag (Royal Court, Rough Cuts, 2007) an old woman is lying on her death bed, imagining that she is being terrorised by gorillas. Butler's play is an exploration of death and the dying. Do It! (Royal Court, Open Court Season, 2013) is an unsettling journey through the secrets and innermost thoughts of a group of pedestrians, unwittingly watched over by a violent force. The volume includes an introduction by the playwright. Review This lush, savage, nightmarish imagining of colonial Ireland circa 1762 suggests an imagination that has suddenly, gloriously and recklessly taken wing. Time Out on "I'll Be The Devil" A gripping play that is not at all pretty ... This is, in short, an extraordinary piece of writing which comes at you in a blizzard of diseased banter Daily Mail on "I'll Be The Devil" Talk about bang on the money. Leo Butler's outstanding new play - his best yet - catches the mood of the moment in its raw and devastating account of a couple who got swept along on a tide of easy credit, only to end up dashed against a northern rock of debt ... This is a timely, savagely brilliant theatrical epitaph for the New Labour decade of shattered hopes and dreams turned sour. --Daily Telegraph on "Faces in the Crowd" About the Author Leo Butler's work includes Made of Stone; Redundant; Lucky Dog; Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court); Devotion (Theatre Centre); Heroes (National Theatre Education Tour); I ll Be the Devil (RSC / Tricycle Theatre); The Early Bird (Queen s Theatre, Belfast / Finborough Theatre); Juicy Fruits (Paines Plough / Traverse Theatre / Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Sixty-Nine (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival); Could You Please Close the Door Please (FIND Festival / Schaubuhne, Berlin); Alison! A Rock Opera (co-composed with Daniel Persad - Royal Court / King s Head Theatre / Spread Eagle Theatre).