'Wherever you go and whatever you do, always play a real cool hand.'

Beneath a scorching Florida sun, Boss Godfrey watches the chain gang. Keeps his eye on Cool Hand Luke. War hero, trouble-maker, inspiration to his fellow inmates. And just the man Boss wants to crush...

Cool Hand Luke is the hard-hitting story of a true original. He'll play it real cool in the face of brutality. He'll always get back up after a beating. He'll eat fifty eggs in an hour, to win a bet. A man who won't conform no matter what it costs.

In a powerful new adaptation for the stage by Emma Reeves, based on Donn Pearce's acclaimed novel, and directed by Andrew Loudon, Cool Hand Luke is the raw, uncompromising tale of sticking it to "The Man".

Author Donn Pearce has been a merchant marine, a safecracker and a convict. Cool Hand Luke, his first novel, was made into a film in 1967 and it received a number of Academy Award nominations. The film starred Paul Newman, and Pearce made a cameo appearance as a convict named Sailor. His other books included Pier Head Jump (1972) and Dying in the Sun (1974). During the seventies and early eighties he was a freelance journalist, often contributing to magazines such as Playboy and Esquire. Pearce continues to live and write in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.