Squint Theatre today announce the publication of a collection of plays and theatre-making tools by Methuen Drama, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. Three Plays by Squint & How They Were Made brings three of the company’s plays together with the methods used to create them, in a practical, user-friendly toolkit.
The three plays – created by Lee Anderson, Adam Foster and Andrew Whyment – are published here for the first time. At the heart of each, a character is struggling to process personal trauma under the intense glare of the public eye. Long Story Short (2014) dissects journalism in the digital age; Molly (2015) takes a reality television-style journey into the mind of a sociopath; and The Incredible True Story of the Johnstown Flood (2021) embarks on a transatlantic exploration of class, exploitation and appropriation.
Developed over ten years through Squint’s education programme, the exercises in this book distil the company’s collaborative practice into over 25 tools for writing and devising. The Squint Toolkit covers the company’s entire theatre-making process, from carrying out research and improvising story to writing subtext, devising from music and making cuts.
Andrew Whyment, Artistic Director of Squint said: “This book is a sort of ‘making of’. A rare opportunity to read a collection of plays alongside the exercises used to make them. We’re inviting readers behind the scenes and proudly sharing our practice in the hope of inspiring a new generation of theatre-makers to create their own original work.”
The book will be available through retailers internationally in Paperback, Hardback and eBook formats from 23 February 2023, from £24.99.
