McDowall Plays: 1: Brilliant Adventures; Captain Amazing; Talk Show; Pomona

This is the first collection from groundbreaking playwright Alistair McDowall, an exceptionally talented and fast-rising writer. Still only in his twenties, this writer is surely going places. Whatever he dreams up next, his name will almost certainly be in lights at the Royal Court soon, if not at the National Theatre. (The Times)

Having won a Judges Award at the Bruntwood Prize in 2011 and been shortlisted for the Writers’ Guild Best Play Award in 2013, Alistair McDowall is one of the most exciting playwrights of this generation.

The anthology features the play that brought McDowall to people’s attention, Brilliant Adventures, up to his latest major play, Pomona, that received ecstatic reviews, transferred to the National Theatre, and hailed him as one of the most important playwrights of this generation. It also includes two previously unpublished plays.

Brilliant Adventures (Royal Exchange/Live Theatre, 2013) is a fast paced tale of brotherhood, addiction and breaking the laws of physics. It won McDowall a Bruntwood Prize.

Captain Amazing (Live Theatre, 2013) is a funny and poignant one-man show that thrusts us into the life of Britain’s only part-time superhero.

Talk Show (Royal Court, 2013) is black comedy about talking and transmission. It was premiered as part of the Royal Court’s Open Court season and has not previously been published.

Pomona (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama/Orange Tree Theatre, 2014) is a sinister and surreal thriller, which takes as its setting Manchester’s Pomona - an abandoned concrete island at the heard of the city; a place where journeys end and nightmares are born.

The anthology is introduced by the author and includes a foreword by Olivier-award-winning playwright Simon Stephens.