Les Années (The Years) is Annie Ernaux's critically acclaimed 'masterpiece' (Guardian), charting a woman's personal and political life against the backdrop of a rapidly changing post-war Europe.

In a mysterious dystopia, against a backdrop of war, a life raft filled with children is adrift at sea – their passenger liner sunk by an unknown and unseen enemy. As darkness falls and their rations dwindle, fear, superstition and madness start to take hold. Hours turn into days, and it becomes clear that not all of them will make it back to dry land alive...

Billy Barrett and Ellice Stevens's After the Act is a funny, camp and unapologetically queer musical about how a moral panic gripped a nation – and a community decided to fight back. Its inspiring, often heartbreaking, stories of teachers, students and activists impacted by the legislation are accompanied by a joyously exuberant score written by Frew and inspired by the music of the 1980s.

In Whitby Harbour, in the summer of 1991, something extraordinary happened. A humble pleasure boat set sail for the Arctic, crewed by misfits, pensioners and the vicar for Egton and Grosmont. This motley crew was assembled for a daring mission: to erect a plaque honouring the legendary Whitby whaler and explorer Captain William Scoresby Senior on a volcanic island hundreds of miles north of Iceland. The boat was illegal, the crew untrained and the plan... unhinged.

Anne Odeke's play Princess Essex is a riotous, satirical comedy based on the amazing true story of the first woman of colour to enter a beauty pageant in the UK.

Boston, 1956. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the most eminent astronomers of the twentieth century, is about to be appointed Chair of Astronomy and the first woman to head a department at Harvard University. Only two things stand in her way: a covert investigation aimed at exposing her as a Communist sympathiser, and the entrenched conservatism of her male colleagues.

The storms are getting worse, with rains so hard that fish are falling from the sky. But the age-old belief prevails: that the pealing of bells can dissipate the thunder and lightning. It's a perilous task – one that now falls to two young friends, Clement and Aspinall. And as the weather worsens, they begin to question whether they'll make it through the night.

Dublin, 1850. The delicate balance at the heart of an affluent couple's marriage and family business is challenged when two visitors – a former enslaved woman and her emancipator – come to Ireland to speak to the public about trade, money and the abolition of slavery.

Meet Fanny Mendelssohn. You'll probably know of her younger brother Felix, who was such a huge star that Queen Victoria requested a private concert, during which she sang her favourite of his compositions, a song called 'Italien'.The only problem is, that particular piece was actually composed by Fanny, though it was published under her brother's name. When Fanny intercepts the letter inviting Felix to play for the queen, she decides to hide it away, don her brother's clothes, and take his…

Llanrumney plantation. Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica. 1765. Annie and Cerys are enslaved by the Morgan family from Wales. When Elizabeth Morgan is faced with the loss of her plantation, the slaves' future hangs in the balance. With a storm of rebellion brewing, Annie does everything she can to secure her future. But sooner or later she will have to face up to the horror and trauma all around her, including her own.