An irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent 'accidental' death of a suspect in custody. Outwitting his captors, the Maniac dupes them into performing a farcical recreation of the incident, exposing the absurd corruption and terrifying idiocy at the heart of the system. Dario Fo and Franca Rame's riotous satire, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, has been widely performed around...

An absurd, hilarious and fast-paced comedy by the writer of some of Britain's most acclaimed TV comedies.Flight BA043 has crashed on an island. Stranded, four survivors wait. Surely somebody will find them. Planes don't just disappear, do they? And, if no one's coming... what do they do now?Tom Basden's razor-sharp comedy Holes opened at the Arcola Tent, London, in July 2014, following a run at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

An irrepressible fraudster known only as the Maniac is brought into Police Headquarters just as the officers are preparing for a judicial review of the recent 'accidental' death of a suspect in custody. Outwitting his captors, the Maniac dupes them into performing a farcical recreation of the incident, exposing the absurd corruption and terrifying idiocy at the heart of the system. Dario Fo and Franca Rame's riotous satire has been widely performed around the world since its premiere in 19...

'I'm not angry with you, Zack, I'm angry in general. I'm an artist, that's my job.'Ivan is a struggling actor who hasn't yet achieved the recognition he feels he deserves. But all that is about to change when, one afternoon at the zoo with his friend Zack, he is swallowed whole by a crocodile.Based on Dostoyevsky's short story, Tom Basden's The Crocodile is a ferociously funny, eye-poppingly theatrical play about art, animals and what happens when you try ...

A miniature epic that explores the mad savagery of war with biting black comedy, and takes us into the dark heart of a strange and surreal conflict.As soldiers, priests and scavengers roam a battle-scorched landscape, a young medical officer finds herself abandoned and useless, unable to locate the hospital or even the war she was promised.Tom Basden's short play There is a War was first performed in a double bill with Prasanna Puwanarajah's Nightwatchman...

Double Feature brings together – in two volumes of paired short plays – four of the most exciting new voices in UK theatre, in their first commissions for the National Theatre.This volume, Double Feature: Two, contains:Nightwatchman by Prasanna PuwanarajahA British Sri Lankan cricketer prepares for the innings of her life for England against Sri Lanka at Lord's. Facing a relentless bowling machine she challenges our precon...

Ever wondered just how much of life you can understand through poetry?Tim Key is never far from stage and screen - from Peep Show to Alpha Papa to Taskmaster. But now he's back doing what he does best - attempting to recite poetry whilst tormenting his friend and musician, the equally brilliant, and long suffering, Tom Basden.From ruminating on the meaning of family via his narrative poem The Godfather, attempting to get to the bottom of death via...

A penguin is all that stands between one man and murder by the mafiaSit back and enjoy this darkly comic full-cast adaptation of Andrey Kurkov’s bestselling novel set in mid-90s Ukraine, plus a bonus interview with the author.Viktor Alekseyevich Zolotaryov is an aspiring writer in Ukraine, with only his pet king penguin, Misha, for company. After Viktor gets a job writing obituaries for a local newspaper, he soon finds that his articles are being used as a h...

The complete series 1 and 2 of the smart and surreal sketch comedy from Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf.In this complete collection of BBC Radio 4 series of 'Cowards', a batch of hapless and hopeful nearly-men battle with the challenge of everyday life, doing their very best to meet the demands of the modern world.Bikes start talking, genies appear that force you to guess what your three wishes are, bridges across the channel are built out of Lego, P...

Kafka’s finest works adapted for BBC radio – plus a biographical play, three discussion pieces and the award-winning Kafka The MusicalA lawyer by day, Franz Kafka spent his nights writing visionary stories and novels exploring bureaucracy, power and alienation – iconic fiction that gave the world the adjective ‘Kafkaesque’.This BBC anthology showcases his most famous works. Metamorphosis tells the tale of Gregor Samsa, who...

As a starting point in making the world a better place, Mark will free you from sin. It's a big task, but he thinks it's going to go really well.Mark Watson is not only a fantastic stand-up comedian, but he may also be the best chance we have to overcome sin. He's got a plan to teach us everything we need to know about the Six Deadly Sins (he knows it's usually seven, but he's doing Greed and Gluttony together as a special offer). In the second series, Mark turns his attention to t...

Following on from his hugely successful show Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, Mark Watson's new series reignites his quest to improve the world, nimbly assisted by Tim Key and Tom Basden and with the additional help of the listening audience. Mark asks the big questions that are crucial to our understanding of ourselves and society, and in a dynamic and thought-provoking new format he opens the floor to the live audience and asks them to jump into the conversation...