Are you a theatre-maker looking for devising tools? A writer wanting to improve your dialogue? A director trying to create a story through improvisation?

Three Plays by Squint & How They Were Made brings three of the company’s plays together with the methods used to create them, in a practical, user-friendly toolkit.

Three of Squint’s plays - created by Lee Anderson, Adam Foster and Andrew Whyment - are published here for the first time. At the heart of each, a character is struggling to process their personal trauma under the intense glare of the public eye.

Long Story Short (2014) dissects journalism in the digital age, Molly (2015) takes  a reality television-style journey into the mind of a sociopath, and The Incredible True Story of the Johnstown Flood (2021) embarks on a transatlantic exploration of class, exploitation and appropriation.

Developed over ten years through Squint’s education programme, the exercises in this book distil the company’s collaborative practice into over twenty-five tools for writing and devising. The Squint Toolkit covers the entire theatre-making process, from carrying out research and improvising story to writing subtext, devising from music and making cuts.

“Squint’s trio of fast-paced plays, combined with the activities used to create them, are an invaluable resource for directors, ensembles, devisers and playwrights alike” - Emma Rice, Artistic Director of Wise Children.

“You can’t help but feel nourished by Squint’s collective spirit and markedly more equipped to originate theatre” - Holly Race Roughan, Artistic Director of Headlong.

“It’s fascinating to read this generous and detailed articulation of the tools and methods of Squint’s theatre making” - Amit Lahav, Artistic Director of Gecko.

“An invaluable resource for theatre makers and educators” - Anna Niland, Associate Director of the National Youth Theatre.

“A punchy collection of swaggeringly smart plays coupled with a generous toolkit of inspirations for making new work” - Dan Rebellato, Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway.