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This second collection of plays by David Eldridge showcases the development of one of the most impressive playwriting talents of recent years. His plays combine emotional impact with complexity, realistic characterisation with humour, and are among the most powerfully moving dramas of contemporary playwriting. This plays in this collection are: Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness, Market Boy, The Knot of the Heart and The Stock Da'wa. It also features a new introduction by the author.
- GenresPlays
464 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 17, 2022
Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness: 3/5 - This is largely incomprehensible but it's not as much of a problem as that would imply.
Market Boy: 3/5 - This is lovely! It's also RIDICULOUS and MASSIVE. Also as I was reading one of the Mum scenes Clarie Rushbrook (original Mum) walked past me which felt very like a scene from Market Boy by David Eldridge.
The Knot of the Heart: 3/5 - It's not the play's fault that it was superseded by People, Places and Things a few years later, but it is a problem when you read it.
The Stock Da'Wa: 2.5/5 - oh it's one of those Secrets Are Revealed plays.
Market Boy: 3/5 - This is lovely! It's also RIDICULOUS and MASSIVE. Also as I was reading one of the Mum scenes Clarie Rushbrook (original Mum) walked past me which felt very like a scene from Market Boy by David Eldridge.
The Knot of the Heart: 3/5 - It's not the play's fault that it was superseded by People, Places and Things a few years later, but it is a problem when you read it.
The Stock Da'Wa: 2.5/5 - oh it's one of those Secrets Are Revealed plays.
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July 23, 2020The Knot of the Heart is the most inciteful, accurate play I've ever read about addiction. Five stars.
Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness was also very good. Four stars. Bleak and somewhat similar in plot to Random by debbie tucker green.
The other plays are less memorable. Market Boy glorifies working class life, which I admire, but does so in a way which almost glorifies their casual transphobia, homophobia, mysogony, etc. I get that he was wanting to paint the market stalls accurately, but the humour feels a little bit like we're supposed to laugh along with them at the hateful use of language. The final play in the collection is an uncomfortable one about a misguided white man from Essex returning to his would-be mother as Islamic extremist with the head of a dead gay man in his gym bag. Maybe not one for the family...
Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness was also very good. Four stars. Bleak and somewhat similar in plot to Random by debbie tucker green.
The other plays are less memorable. Market Boy glorifies working class life, which I admire, but does so in a way which almost glorifies their casual transphobia, homophobia, mysogony, etc. I get that he was wanting to paint the market stalls accurately, but the humour feels a little bit like we're supposed to laugh along with them at the hateful use of language. The final play in the collection is an uncomfortable one about a misguided white man from Essex returning to his would-be mother as Islamic extremist with the head of a dead gay man in his gym bag. Maybe not one for the family...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews