A celebration of a great English heroine, Anne Boleyn dramatises the life and legacy of Henry VIII's notorious second wife, who helped change the course of the nation's history.Traditionally seen as either the pawn of an ambitious family manoeuvred into the King's bed or as a predator manipulating her way to power, Anne – and her ghost – are seen in a very different light in Howard Brenton's epic play.Rummaging through the dead Queen Elizabeth's possessions upon co...

An irreverent and provocative drama questioning the basis of Christianity, by the author of The Romans in Britain.The most famous conversion in history - when Saul became Paul on the road to Damascus - was a trick. It was actually Jesus appearing to him. Jesus did not die on the cross but was rescued and sheltered by his brother James, by Peter and by Peter's wife, Mary Magdalene. But they prefer to keep Paul in the dark because, although he is mistakenly preachin...

A collection of Howard Brenton's finest plays, produced for BBC radioOne of Britain's leading contemporary playwrights, Howard Brenton is well known for his controversial state-of-the-nation plays, dark comedies and powerful political satires. He has written over 50 works for the theatre and numerous screenplays, including 13 episodes of the hit TV series Spooks. Included here are some of his most acclaimed dramas, including the award-winning Pravda

A vivid telling of the chaotic story of the partition that shaped the modern world.London, 1947. Summoned by the Prime Minister from the court where he is presiding judge, Cyril Radcliffe is given an unlikely mission. He is to travel to India, a country he has never visited, and, with limited survey information, no expert support and no knowledge of cartography, he is to draw the border which will divide the Indian sub-continent into two new Sovereign Dominions. To make matters eve...

A gripping historical play that dramatises a crucial moment of English history.December 1648. The Army has occupied London. Parliament votes not to put the imprisoned king on trial, so the Army moves against Westminster in the first and only military coup in English history. What follows over the next fifty-five days, as Cromwell seeks to compromise with a king who will do no such thing, is nothing less than the forging of a new nation, an entirely new world.Howard Brenton'...

A spellbinding retelling of a passionate and legendary love story.When Abelard begins a wild affair with his brilliant student Heloise, his enemies find the perfect pretext to destroy him. Abelard is already on thin ice with the church over his contentious views and when Heloise bears his child out of wedlock, their affair becomes the scandal of the age…Howard Brenton's play Eternal Love was first performed under the title In Extremis at Shakespeare's Glob...

Howard Brenton's Lawrence After Arabia explores the afterlife of a legend, when being a hero has become a burden, and the man once celebrated as Lawrence of Arabia wants only to be normal once more.August, 1922. The most famous man in England has vanished without a trace: T.E. Lawrence has completely disappeared. But in the idyllic calm of the village of Ayot St Lawrence, on the top floor of the home of Mr and Mrs Bernard Shaw, the 'uncrowned King of Arabia' is hiding – wi...

An epic, hilarious and moving play that takes a sideways look at the First World War.Jack Twigg, twenty-one years old, enlists in the London Regiment and goes on a journey he never imagined - nor did the rest of the world. On his way, he meets the pioneering medic Harold Gillies, who saves his life and his sanity. And who is the mysterious Doctor Scroggy who appears at night in Gillies' hospital dispensing champagne to the patients?Howard Brenton's...

'They say Pericles caught democracy from you in bed.'Today, Socrates is revered as the founding father of Western philosophy. But in 399 BC Athens, he was a pain in the neck.The plague is over, democracy is (just about) restored, and everyone would like to get back to normal. How hard is it for one ageing firebrand to stop asking questions? It's time to shut him up...Based on eyewitness accounts, Howard Brenton's Cancelling Socrates is a provocativ...

A timely play based on the true story of an imprisoned Nobel Laureate.On 3 April 2011, as he was boarding a flight to Taipei, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Airport. Advised merely that his travel "could damage state security", he was escorted to a van by officials, after which he disappeared for eighty-one days. On his release, the government claimed that his imprisonment related to tax evasion.Howard Brenton's play is based on Ai Weiwei's account in ...

Autumn 1940. The Battle of Britain rages.Southampton is home to our only hope of victory: the Spitfire. But, in one of many devastating raids on the town, the Luftwaffe destroy the Woolston Supermarine Spitfire factory. The Government requisitions local businesses to use as shadow factories – but meets resistance. Fred Dimmock won't give up his family laundry for anyone.As the Dimmocks, and other families, struggle to keep control of their lives and livelihoods, a story of ...

'Everything is possible in Moscow at night.'The Kremlin, Moscow, 1942. A top-secret meeting between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin: one, a wealthy aristocrat from a blue-blooded line of English nobility; the other, a Georgian peasant, hell-bent on destroying capitalism and the class system. Can these two leaders find common ground? As diplomats struggle to control the escalating chaos, two interpreters find themselves caught in the eye of the storm.Howard Bren...