PUBLIC DOMAIN to transfer to the West End

PUBLIC DOMAIN, the Five Star verbatim musical, is transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre for a limited run from 27th May 2021.

Following an acclaimed digital debut at Southwark Playhouse this thrilling, new British musical, composed entirely from the real-life words of YouTube vloggers, Instagram influencers, Facebook’s tech giants, and everyday internet users now has its live world premiere in the West End.

Assistant Directed by Blake Friedmann client Micha Mirto, Public Domain is written by, features music and lyrics and stars Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke. Adam Lenson directs, with scenic and costume design by Libby Todd and lighting design by Matt Daw. Read more about it here.

SARAH LOTZ' IMPOSSIBLE TO BE ADAPTED AS A FEATURE

Filmmaker Siân Heder, whose Sundance hit CODA is set to direct and write a feature take of Sarah Lotz’s upcoming 2022 novel IMPOSSIBLE.

In association with AM Heath, Conrad Williams of the Blake Friedmann Media Department optioned the rights earlier this year to Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Federation, who will be working with Black Label Media and Marsh Entertainment to produce the feature adaptation of the novel. You can find out more about our media department’s work with book-to-screen adaptations here.

The Penguin Group Berkley Books novel tells the story of Nick, a ghostwriter who is a disappointment to himself and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, and Bee, a commitment-phobe content on repurposing wedding dresses rather than finding a reason to wear one herself. The two are meant to be together, but fate has other plans. They have an instant connection after a misdirected email lands in Bee’s inbox, and over time they develop real feelings for each other. Eventually, Nick and Bee come to the conclusion that they have to meet in person, yet when they both arrive at their planned destination, they discover it’s love at the right time but in the completely wrong place.

In a joint statement, the producers of Black Label Media added, “We are so excited to re-team with Patrick Wachsberger who we have worked with for many years and collaborated with on such films as Sicario and La La Land. Impossible is an incredible novel and we are thrilled to be working with the wonderfully talented Sian Heder on the adaptation.”

LEFT YOU DEAD BY PETER JAMES JUMPS STRAIGHT TO NUMBER ONE ON THE HARDBACK BESTSELLER CHARTS

Peter James’s seventeenth Detective Superintendent Roy Grace novel, LEFT YOU DEAD, has flown straight to the Number 1 position in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller chart after only three days on sale, giving Peter his eighteenth Number 1 on the British charts this Sunday. The stellar three-day sales also make LEFT YOU DEAD the biggest hardback fiction title launch of the year.

In LEFT YOU DEAD, Niall and Eden Paternoster start their Sunday the same way they always do – with a long drive, a visit to a country house and a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way home. But this Sunday ends differently – because while Niall waits and waits in the car park for Eden to pick up supplies, Eden never returns. She’s not waiting for him at home, and none of their family or friends have heard from her.

Gone without a trace, Niall is arrested on suspicion of her murder. When DS Roy Grace is called in to investigate, it doesn’t take long to realize that nothing is quite as it seems – and this might be his most mysterious case yet.

Later this month, WISH YOU WERE DEAD, a Roy Grace novella written by Peter for The Reading Agency’s Quick Reads scheme will be published by Pan Macmillan. And next month, Peter James fans will be able to get their hands on a paperback of Peter’s standalone thriller, I FOLLOW YOU. 

March saw the much-anticipated release of ITV’s GRACE, based on the first book in the Roy Grace series, DEAD SIMPLE. The series launched in a prime-time Sunday slot to widespread praise from the critics and 8.8 million strong viewing figures. The show was launched in April by Britbox North America with DEAD SIMPLE and LOOKING GOOD DEAD streaming for fans in the US and Canada.

Praise for Peter James:

‘Sinister and riveting… Peter James is one of the best British crime writers, and therefore one of the best in the world.’ — Lee Child

‘Peter James creates a world we can smell, touch and feel for his Brighton detective Inspector Roy Grace.’ – The Times

‘A master plotter who cunningly tunes into contemporary concerns. Peter James cannot fail to thrill.’ ­– Daily Mail

'Peter James is one of the best crime writers in the business.' — Karin Slaughter

About the Author:

Peter James is an international bestselling crime and thriller writer. In 2015 WHSmith customers voted him the Greatest Crime Author of All Time and in 2016 he was awarded the coveted CWA Diamond Dagger, a lifetime achievement award for sustained excellence. In 2018 he received a Specsavers Honorary Platinum Bestseller Award.

Successful nationwide tours of the stage plays of THE PERFECT MURDER (2014), DEAD SIMPLE (2015), NOT DEAD ENOUGH (2017) and THE HOUSE ON COLD HILL (2019) have played to packed theatres in dozens of British cities, and garnered magnificent reviews. The newest Roy Grace theatre production, LOOKING GOOD DEAD, will tour in 2021.

Visit Peter’s website

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THE YOUNG TEAM by Graeme Armstrong shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize & Awards

We are thrilled that Graeme Armstrong’s THE YOUNG TEAM has been shortlisted for the Betty Trask Prize & Awards for a debut novel by a writer under 35. Judge Vaseem Khan commended the shortlisted novels for being ‘measured and precise’, ‘erudite and linguistically nimble’, ‘quietly powerful’, and ‘a narrative whose power lasts long after the reading stops’. Also shortlisted are Bad Love by Maame Blue, The Last Good Man by Thomas McMullan, The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams, The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and The Water House by Nneoma Ike-Njoku.

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards, awarded by the Society of Authors, were founded after Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund prizes for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 in a traditional or romantic, but not experimental, style. The total prize fund is £26,200. ​Past winners include Zadie Smith, David Szalay, Hari Kunzru and Sarah Waters.

The winners will be announced online on Wednesday 9th June, in an online ceremony presented by novelist Joanne Harris.

THE YOUNG TEAM was published in 2020 by Picador and became a Times top 10 bestseller. The paperback was published in April 2021.

2005. Glasgow is named Europe’s Murder Capital, driven by a violent territorial gang and knife culture. In the housing schemes of adjacent Lanarkshire, Scotland’s former industrial heartland, wee boys become postcode warriors.

2004. Azzy Williams joins the Young Team [YTP]. A brutal gang conflict with their deadly rivals, the Young Toi [YTB] begins.

2012. Azzy dreams of another life. He faces his toughest fight of all – the fight for a different future.

Expect Buckfast. Expect bravado. Expect street philosophy. Expect rave culture. Expect anxiety. Expect addiction. Expect a serious facial injury every six hours. Expect murder.

Hope for a way out.

Inspired by the experiences of its author, Graeme Armstrong, THE YOUNG TEAM is an energetic novel, full of the loyalty, laughs, mischief, boredom, violence and threat of life on these streets. It looks beyond the tabloid stereotypes to tell a powerful story about the realities of life for young people in Britain today.

‘Raw and lyrical . . . written in a voice that recalls Irvine Welsh and Alan Warner – dialect that fizzes off the page.’ – The Observer

‘Graeme Armstrong's debut novel is an instant Scottish classic.’ – The Skinny

‘Vivid, dynamic and sharp as a whip.’ – Janice Galloway, author of The Trick is to Keep Breathing

‘[A] gripping debut novel . . . [Armstrong] is quite a phenomenon . . . one of the most admired young voices in British fiction.’ – Mike Wade, The Times

Photo: Robin Farquhar-Thomson

Graeme Armstrong is a Scottish writer from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within North Lanarkshire’s gang culture. He was inspired to study English Literature after reading Irvine Welsh’s TRAINSPOTTING at just sixteen. Alongside overcoming his own struggles with drug addiction, alcohol abuse and violence, he defied expectation to read English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling; where, after graduating with honours, he returned to study a Masters’ in Creative Writing.

He regularly volunteers within the community visiting prisons and schools, giving talks on his experiences of gang-culture and substance abuse. He promotes a message of anti-violence and abstinence-based recovery.

Follow Graeme on Twitter

GRAY HUGHES DIRECTS JOE MARLER'S SKY SPORTS DOCUMENTARY BIG BOYS DON'T CRY

Big Boys Don’t Cry, directed by Blake Friedmann client Gray Hughes, follows England Rugby forward Joe Marler as he discusses his own struggles and learns new methods of managing mental wellbeing

The documentary first aired at 4pm on Sky Sports Arena on Wednesday 14th May – Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK – follows Marler as he travels the UK to open up conversation around mental health challenges and to learn about how people manage with their mental wellbeing, taking the plunge in freshwater swimming and getting involved in singing in a choir along the way.

Recently the England and Harlequins player has spoken about his battles with mental health during his private live and his time playing rugby on the international stage.

Marler also explained his thoughts behind making the hour-long documentary Boys Don’t Cry, “I wanted to meet people who, like me, had gone down their own mental health ‘rabbit holes’. I wanted to hear about how they found their own ways of getting out of them and gain a better understanding of how mental health issues affect us all.

“I hope that talking about my own mental health will get others talking about theirs and help to normalise it, especially in an alpha male-dominated sport like rugby. We are required to dominate and intimidate opposing players when we cross the white line on the pitch, we must show no weakness or vulnerability in order to win. But it doesn’t have to be like that off the pitch. I want to help spread the message that many others have done already that it’s okay not to be okay. And help people find the right tools to cope.”

You can read more here and watch the show here.