Hard Times (Modern Plays) - Softcover

It is deeply affecting . . . This is popular ensemble theatre in traditions stretching from Moliere to Meyerhold and beyond: vibrant, entertaining and meaningful. * The Observer (on An August Bank Holiday Lark) * Warm-hearted, poignant drama . . . pays tribute to the long-dead in more than words. * Daily Telegraph on An August Bank Holiday Lark * Nikolai Gogol's biting satire on the corruption in Tsarist Russian public life makes an effortless translation to a small modern day Pennine hill town ... this campy, brassy update is very funny and very relevant ... a touch of Yorkshire Noir. * Independent on Deborah McAndrew's adapatation of "A Government Inspector" * McAndrew's adaptation does wonders to wrestle Dickens' disparate plot strands into a coherent whole, in the first half at least. * Daily Mail *

Imagine a world where imagination is forbidden. Coketown is such a place. Thomas Gradgrind will not permit fanciful thoughts in his school or his home. But what effect will this policy have on his own children, Tom and Louisa? How can he protect them from corrupting influences - especially when the circus comes to town? Dark satanic mills, interrupted by the colour and vibrancy of Sleary's Circus, set the stage for a sweeping tale of suppressed love, seduction and social mores, peopled with the sharply observed exaggerated characters that Dickens is celebrated for.