
Thinking of selecting Colder Than Here (Laura Wade) as one of your comparative texts for Leaving Cert English? This free two-page PDF guide tells you everything you need to decide.
Colder Than Here is one of the newest texts on the list and one of the shortest: nine scenes, no acts, about ninety minutes, six of them two-handers, alternating strictly between a woodland burial ground and a living room with a broken boiler. A woman with months to live organises her own funeral while her family fail to talk about it, and the play is far funnier than that description suggests. For the Comparative Study it gives you a modern, secular, comfortable world with no ritual left for death, a form in which character is built from objects rather than speeches, and the rare case of an outlook that brightens as the illness worsens. The guide is plain about fit: which modes the play serves well, which one it serves badly, and the subject matter a class must be ready for.
Inside the guide: an at-a-glance table covering form, setting, narration, length and running time, first staging and awards, prescribed-list status and the play’s strongest modes; a clear synopsis; the themes the play carries; and an honest “before you teach” note on what needs care in the classroom.
The guide then sets out how the play pairs in every comparison mode at BOTH levels, partner-agnostic so it holds whatever you set it against:
- Higher Level: Cultural Context, Literary Genre, Theme or Issue, and General Vision and Viewpoint.
- Ordinary Level: Hero, Heroine and Villain; Relationships; Social Setting; and Theme.
Colder Than Here was first prescribed for examination in 2026 and is on the Comparative list for 2026, 2027 and 2028, at both Higher and Ordinary Level. It is not prescribed as a Single Text at either level.
The companion Student Textbook and Teacher Guide (full exam-ready analysis and complete teaching support) are available separately from The Prescribed Shelf, or together in the Complete Bundle.
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