Plays 1: Road / Bed / Two / The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

by Jim Cartwright

Road: "A surreal vision of the contemporary urban landscape…uncomfortable and magical, funny and bitter. It is a northern Under Milk Wood, high on pills and booze" (Sunday Times). Bed: "Cartwright writes better about old people than anyone I know, except perhaps Beckett. This is an odd, harrowing and hilarious piece, entirely without sentimentality, sturdy but moving." (John Peter, Sunday Times)

Two: "A sharp, salty quickfire evocation of the surface gaiety and underlying melancholia of English pub life." (Michael Billington, The Guardian). The Rise and Fall of Little Voice: "A northern showbiz fairytale, a backstreet Cinderella story, with a built-in kick." (Guardian)

Genres: Plays

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Kerry]

I'm a drama teacher and always hear great things about Two...I honestly hated it. I do love Little Voice and Road though, although they too feel dated now.

[Shannon]

you know what I massively rate this. Reading this as a northerner from a working class background was mad familiar. The way some conversations portrayed within the play echoed my own experiences growing up made me both uncomfortable and comforted. V refreshing read, especially being written in a dialect similar to my own

[Katrin Baker]

there’s lots to love here, but feels impossible to rate these properly without seeing any of them live

[Matteo]

not enjoyable. road was okay, so was two, but not the best set of plays i’ve read.

[Natalie Cook]

Road was one of the very first plays I ever had the chance to perform... and what a soccer-punch! Each play is unique and very real in its subject. You feel as though, in a way, you've been apart of each one of these characters in some way.