Pandas (NHB Modern Plays)

A romantic-comedy-thriller about the heat of love and the magic of changing perspectives.

Lin Han and Jie Hui have exchanged 536 emails and 72 jpegs, though they've only just met. She's sure he's the man she could fall in love with, if only he'd do it first.

But Jie Hui's a little distracted. When his business partner gets shot, things start to get very complicated - especially when he realises his heart is broken.

Meanwhile, Madeleine finds herself falling for James, the most attractive man she's met in years. And the feeling seems to be mutual. It's just a pity he's the policeman questioning her about the shooting of her ex-boyfriend...

'Rona Munro shoehorns a big, daft plot into this charming new romcom. The writing sparkles, the dialogue bounces off the cherry trees that frame the set.' - Independent

'true love wins out in Rona Munro's cracking Edinburgh-China romantic comedy' - Stage

'Munro's script has a tremendous fluidity and a bold humour which is, at times, worthy of a Restoration comedy... an absolute gem.' - Telegraph

'it's a knowingly whimsical play that pleases with its sense of neat resolution... eccentric and very funny' - Guardian

Auteur

Rona Munro has written extensively for stage, radio, film and television including the award-winning plays The James Plays trilogy (National Theatre of Scotland, the Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Great Britain), Iron (Traverse Theatre and Royal Court, London), Bold Girls (7:84 and Hampstead Theatre) and The Maiden Stone (Hampstead Theatre).

Other credits include Scuttlers for Manchester's Royal Exchange, The Last Witch for the Traverse Theatre and the Edinburgh International Festival, Long Time Dead for Paines Plough and the Drum Theatre Plymouth, The Indian Boy and Little Eagles for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Pandas for the Traverse in Edinburgh. She is the co-founder, with actress Fiona Knowles, of Scotland's oldest continuously performing, small-scale touring theatre company, The Msfits. Their one-woman shows have toured every year since 1986.

Film and television work includes the Ken Loach film Ladybird Ladybird, Aimee and Jaguar and television dramas Rehab (directed by Antonia Bird) and BAFTA-nominated Bumping the Odds for the BBC. She has also written many other single plays for television and contributed to series including Casualty and Dr Who. Most recently, she wrote the screenplay for Oranges and Sunshine, directed by Jim Loach and starring Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving.

She has contributed several radio plays to the Stanley Baxter Playhouse series on BBC Radio 4.