Fishskin Trousers (2017 edition) (NHB Modern Plays)

By Elizabeth Kuti

A haunting play about loss and grief, set in the mists of Suffolk.

Fishskin Trousers weaves together the haunting tales of three lost people from different eras, united by the common setting of the fishing village of Orford in Suffolk, its castle and its mysterious island, Orford Ness.

From the twelfth century, Mab gives an eyewitness account of the legendary Wild Man of Orford, caught in the nets of fishermen... Eight hundred years later, at the height of the Cold War, Ben, a young Australian scientist, hears strange noises on the Ness as he tries to fix the island's radar system. While Mog, in 2003, is faced with a heartbreaking decision...

Suffused by the landscape and traditional folk tales of East Anglia, their echoing voices and stories reveal how deeply and intimately their lives touch each other, though decades – and even centuries – separate them.

Elizabeth Kuti's Fishskin Trousers premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 2013, and was revived at Park Theatre, London, in October 2017.

This volume also contains the short plays Enter A Gentleman and Time Spent on Trains.

'A beautiful, looping piece, revelling in the rhythms of Suffolk speech… an engrossing, enveloping piece of writing' - The Stage

'Entrancing... This is storytelling theatre at its simplest, and it's always measured, never showy... gradually I found myself totally immersed in these shimmering, fishy tales from the depths of time and human experience.' - Guardian

'A fascinating and lyrical piece of writing' - Time Out

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Nov 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781780019833

Elizabeth Kuti

Elizabeth Kuti is a playwright and winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, whose work includes The Sugar Wife (Soho Theatre) and The Six-Day World (Finborough Theatre). She is also Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Essex.