Fishskin Trousers: NHB Modern Plays

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.

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

"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

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.