The Emperor and the Nightingale

In ancient China, the young emperor Wu is kept a virtual prisoner in his palace by his scheming guardian, Li Si. For Wu, the world outside the Forbidden City is a dangerous place. But when he hears Xiao, a young peasant girl, talk of the most beautiful sound on earth - the song of the nightingale - it's too much to resist.The two embark on an adventure that will take them across mountaintops and waterfalls, past chattering monkeys and fire-belching dragons to the far reaches of his kingdom.But Wu has an ulterior motive that could threaten the peace of the kingdom.

Neil has worked as a full-time professional playwright for almost 35 years and his plays have been staged extensively in theatres throughout Britain and abroad. Recent work includes: The Machine Stops (York Theatre Royal); The Ugly Duckling (Northumberland Theatre Company); The Road to Glory (The Point, Eastleigh); A Christmas Carol (Derby Theatre, Edinburgh Lyceum, Bolton Octagon); The Firebird (Dundee Rep); Dancing in My Dreams (Oxfordshire Theatre Company); The Minotaur and Leopard (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster). His play The Lost Warrior (commissioned by the Dukes Theatre, Lancaster) won the Arts Council England Children's Award in 2006 for work that displays excellence, inspiration and innovation in children's theatre. Neil lives in Bolton with his partner, Eileen Murphy, and loves to spend as much time as possible with their four young grandchildren, Toby, Gabriel, Clyde and Beatrice.