“Head/Heart is an explosive double bill of short new plays exploring love and loss in the 21st Century. ”

Two of the most exciting voices in new writing create dovetailing pieces themed around head and heart for a summer tour of studio spaces. Elinor Cook, currently under commission with the Bush Theatre, and Daniel Kanaber, nominated by OffWestEnd as one of 2010’s most promising playwrights, join forces to explore the mysteries of head and heart.

With video art from Carolina Vasquez (Sherman Cymru) and original music from Isobel Waller-Bridge (Manchester Library Theatre and the BBC), Head Music and Heart in Mouth are short, sharp shocks of total theatre.

Head Music by Elinor Cook

“I used to love your music. And now it’s just like – like my enemy”

Leah is a professional pianist finding it difficult to connect with music. When she plays, every note chimes with past regrets and thoughts of him. With music no longer the food of love, discordant harmonies abound in this comic, disordered love story.

Heart in Mouth by Daniel Kanaber

“Nowadays we mostly pine after girls and call each other gay”

Barry loves Helen, or so he thinks. As she preens, he swoons. But over the course of one hot summer’s day, everything changes. Fueled by overactive hormones and unrequited desires, this funny and tender play about teenage love charges towards an unexpected climax.

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“Wonderful short pieces of passion. The acting throughout both of these plays is exceptional and both Andrew Martyn-Lewis and Greer Dale-Foulkes deserve special credit for creating the tenderness, sensitivity and raw emotion that it takes to carry these powerful and poetic scripts... This is what theatre should be: raw, funny and completely entertaining.”

★★★★★ Remote Goat (London)

“Short and punchy double bill is a theatrical gift to be treasured. The writing is exquisite... To inhabit such quality writing with credibility takes actors of impressive talent, and these two have an abundance of it, as well as charisma and chemistry. They command the space and make those words sing.”

Devon Life

“Here's a pair of intriguing short plays; both tightly scripted studies of fraught but entertaining relationships, performed quite brilliantly by a couple of well-matched, sensitive young actors... Each play contributes to an enjoyable evening on totally different levels and forms an excellent calling card for Box of Tricks.”

★★★★ Remote Goat (Bristol)

“Double bill that makes you think... An intriguing and thought-provoking evening of bite-sized theatre.”

Bristol Evening Post (7/10)

“Box of Tricks presents two short plays that complement each other perfectly... The writing is beautifully portrayed by the two, up-and-coming young actors... The real praise is for the two exciting and versatile actors who bring the playwrights’ words to life so effectively.”

A Younger Theatre

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