Sarah Daniels Knihy

Esther Crossland is a wanted criminal. Four months ago, she destroyed the cruise ship Arcadia in a desperate bid for freedom. Now its inhabitants are in exile on the edge of what used to be the United States - living in sprawling make-shift shelters. Esther is trapped, and fellow rebel Nik Lall is miles away, in hiding. Neither want to admit to their true feelings about each other. When the camp faces annihilation from the ruthless Admiral Janek, the pair suddenly find themselves in a deadly game of power. It's time for a final showdown.

The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven in a gripping near-future dystopian: love triangles, betrayals and fights for freedom in a world turned upside-down... Welcome to the Arcadia. Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States--a leftover piece of a fractured USA. For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have nots, gangs and make-shift shelters. Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Nik is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all. When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever...

“Neaptide races from domestic trauma to staff-room banter ... it bursts with provocative ideas and disturbing questions about human relationships. Most important, it shows that the facade of liberalism and emancipation is merely a translucent gloss.” Jewish Chronicle Claire is a history teacher at a local school where two teenage girls have come out. Their principal, Bea Grimble, is none too impressed, and aims to have them expelled. Claire, who had been hiding the fact that she is homosexual, speaks up on behalf of the girls: this in spite of the fact that she is fighting her ex-husband Lawrence for custody of their daughter, the precocious and happy Poppy. All around Claire hardened attitudes are challenged – and confirmed – as she must decide whether to try to maintain a position of honesty, and battle hypocrisy, from within the bounds of the law, or without. A modern story of custody battles, sexual identity and gender politics, framed around the ancient myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Neaptide was the winner of the 1982 George Devine Award and became the first play by a living female writer to be performed at the National Theatre, London, in 1986. This Modern Classics edition feature a new introduction by Dr Carina Bartleet.

An up-to-date version of this play which begins with female characters from the Bible sitting around in a supermarket hell.