The Playwrights Database
SIMON STEPHENS
Nationality: Britishemail: Click here to contact Website: n/a
Literary Agent: Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd represented by Mel Kenyon
Simon Stephens has been the recipient of both the Pearson Award for Best New Play Play 2001 - 2 (Port) and the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2005 (On the Shore of the Wide World). His plays include Bluebird (Royal Court Theatre 1998), Herons (Royal Court, 2001, nominated for the Olivier Award for Most Promising Playwright), Port (Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2002), One Minute (Actor's Touring Company 2003); Christmas (Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, and the Bush Theatre, London, 2004), Country Music (Royal Court Theatre 2004), and On the Shore of the Wide World (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and the Royal National Theatre, 2005) for which he won the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2005. Simon Stephens was the Arts Council Resident Dramatist at the Royal Court in 2000 and the Pearson Play wright at the Royal Exchange in 2000-2001. He is currently the resident Dramatist at the Royal National Theatre.
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below is a list of Simon Stephens's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Blindsided Bluebird Bring Me Sunshine Canopy Of Stars Christmas Country Music Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Doll's House, A Harper Regan Heaven Herons I Am The Wind King Ubu London Marine Parade Morning Motortown On the Shore of the Wide World One Minute Pornography Port Punk Rock Sea Wall Supernova T5 Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, A Three Kingdoms Trial Of Ubu, The Utopia WastwaterBlindsided
Synopsis:
The drama centres on a girl growing up in a battered part of Stockport at the end of the 70s.
Notes:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBluebird
Synopsis:
As the title suggests, the centre piece of the story is a Nissan Bluebird. The play follows Jimmy, a mini cab driver, on the course of one night as he picks up a variety of 'fares', each one sharing their own individual stories; from Robert whose daughter was stabbed to death, to Richard, disillusioned with life as an engineer on London's underground to his own estranged wife Claire, forcing him to face his own demons. Bluebird brilliantly displays Stephens' concern with the constant battle between pessimism and that tiny fragment of hope.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Company:
Royal Court Young People's Season
1st Published:
Methuen Drama
Dramatists Play Service, Inc (2012) -
Dramatists Play Service, Inc (2012) -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBring Me Sunshine
Synopsis:
A play about love, armed robbery, bacon sandwiches, public transport, hypnotic wallpaper, schizophrenia and the unconquerability of the human spirit.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London W6 9RL >>> 05 Aug 1997
Company:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageCanopy Of Stars
Simon Stephens ensured that the long trek ended on a high, after a second short Verbatim piece compiled by Richard Norton-Taylor, the Tricycle's resident specialist. These brought us right up to date, with an idea of the possible impact of President Obama's Afghan strategy seen from the viewpoints of both sides in the struggle, NATO, Oxfam, the UN and the US. Stephens shows us a pair of British soldiers, getting the demotic blokeish speech absolutely right as Private Kendall (Hugh Skinner) explains that he is there fighting for his mates, while Tom McKay's Sergeant Watkins has nobler ambitions. He has an ideological hatred of the Taliban and wants to save the people from their occupation. So far so good. In the second scene, we move to Watkins' home at two in the morning where it becomes clear that his social commitment doesn't extend to Jemima Rooper as his wife and the young son whom he is unable to look in the eye, having effectively sacrificed them to the cause. .
- British Theatre Guide
- British Theatre Guide
Notes:
part of A three month long festival About the culture And history of Afghanistan. Entitled The Great Game: Afghanistan. The festival will be divided into three parts, each focusing on A period of Afghan history: 1996 - 2009 : Enduring Freedom
1st Produced:
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1st Published:
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Genre:
Historical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageChristmas
People don't mourn out of love, they mourn out of fear and the fear makes them stop. Michael, Billy and Giuseppe are biding their time before Christmas away from their loved ones. When Charlie comes in with his cello, and a fear of stepping outside the door because he's been told today is the day that he'll die, they know that this'll be a long night. Set over the course of one night in a bar in East London, Simon Stephens' play is a slow-burning, evocative play about selling up, growing old and moving on.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-0413774217
Music:
-
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Genre:
pub play
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageCountry Music
A story of crime and redemption, starting at the mouth of the River Thames and moving across England over twenty years. It begins with a life choice for Jamie Carris and ends with a re-union with his young daughter. It is also a story about a killer.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London >>> 24 Jun 2004
Company:
-
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageCurious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The
My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and the capital cities. And every prime number up to 7507. Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside Mrs Shears's dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight, and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain and is exceptional at maths, but he is ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers. But Christopher's detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that turns his world upside-down.
Notes:
Simon Stephens's Adaptation of Mark Haddon's bestselling, Award-winning novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time offers A richly theatrical exploration of this touching And bleakly humorous tale.
1st Produced:
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London (2012)>>> 978-1408173350
Music:
-
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Genre:
adaptation
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDoll's House, A
Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House premiered in 1879 in Copenhagen, the second in a series of realist plays by Ibsen, and immediately provoked controversy with its apparently feminist message and exposure of the hypocrisy of Victorian middle-class marriage. In Ibsen's play, Nora Helmer has secretly (and deceptively) borrowed a large sum of money to pay for her husband, Torvald, to recover from illness on a sabbatical in Italy. Torvald's perception of Nora is of a silly, naive spendthrift, so it is only when the truth begins to emerge, and Torvald appreciates the initiative behind his wife, that unmendable cracks appear in their marriage.
Notes:
Original Playwright - Henrik Ibsen
1st Produced:
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408173312
Music:
-
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Genre:
adaptation
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 4 Other: 2b 1g
Further Reference:
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Top of PageHarper Regan
In her late forties, Harper Regan suddenly leaves her family in the suburbs of West London and sets off on a mission to see her father before he dies. Her journey becomes a road trip through the heart of England in this violent and comic exploration of the moralities of sex and death.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Cottesloe, National Theatre, London, EUR >>> 16 Apr 2008
Company:
NT
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageHeaven
Synopsis:
Heaven offers a glimpse of an encounter in one of those modern circles of hell: ab airport. A young man, heading for Turin, is stopped in his tracks by an elderly man. Is it divine intervention or does it come too late? What is the young man looking for or fleeing from?
- Lyn Gardner, Guardian
- Lyn Gardner, Guardian
Notes:
Part of the The World is Too Much breakfast series
1st Produced:
Company:
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1st Published:
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Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageHerons
Synopsis:
Set around Limehouse Cut and the Lee River in East London, Herons is the disturbing and moving story of fourteen-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by his father's actions. As the teenagers that surround him on the estate step up their campaign of bullying, the play escalates to a violent climax
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London >>> 18 May 2001
Company:
-
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageI Am The Wind
Two men on a fragile boat, a trip to sea - a few drinks, a bite to eat - when one of them decides to push on to the open ocean. Suddenly there they are: among the distant islands, the threatening fog and gathering swell of the sea, bound together on an odyssey into the unknown
Notes:
Original Playwright - Jon Fosse
1st Produced:
Company:
A Young Vic/ Theatre de la Ville-Paris co-production co-commissioned by Wiener Festwochen (Vienna), les Nuits de Fourviere/ Departement du Rhône and Grec 2011 Festival de Barcelona
1st Published:
Oberon Books (2011) >>> 978-1849430715
Music:
-
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Genre:
Adaptation
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 10 Page 501
Top of PageKing Ubu
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Notes:
from A translation by Kenneth McLeish
1st Produced:
Schauspielhaus Essen 16 Apr 2010
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London >>> 978-1408172438
Music:
-
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Genre:
darkly funny satirical play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageLondon
Synopsis:
Two heart-rending stories of family and the choices people make for the precious things they love. You get back to London and the noise of the place and the dirt and the colour and the roar of it. In a city full of the push and pull, incessant chatter and endless hum you can barely find the time to breathe. You want to get away. You deserve to get away. There is a choice you can take everything you love with you or leave it all behind. London tells two heart-rending stories of family and the choices people make for the precious things they love.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Company:
Paines Plough
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMarine Parade
Marine Parade is a musical about sex, betrayal and hope, set in a run-down B&B on Brighton's waterfront.
Notes:
written by Simon Stephens And Mark Eitzel
1st Produced:
Old market, Brighton 18 May 2010
Company:
Animalink
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408152195
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMorning
It's the end of summer in a small, claustrophobic town and two friends are about to go their separate ways: one to university; the other will be staying local. But no matter what separates them, they will always share one moment: a moment that changed them forever. This dark coming-of-age play, to be performed by the Lyric Young Company, is a disturbing look at the cruel acts we are capable of committing; our society's numbness to physical pain; and the consequences of our actions.
Notes:
Morning - a play for young people - is the latest offering from acclaimed playwright Simon Stephens, written after a workshop involving actors from the Young Company at the Lyric, Hammersmith and the Theater, Basel, Switzerland.
1st Produced:
Company:
Lyric Young Company
1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London (2012)>>> 978-1408173398
Music:
-
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Genre:
TYA
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMotortown
Danny returns from Basra to a foreign England and a different kind of battle. He visits an old flame, buys a gun and goes on a blistering road trip through the new home front. 'I don't blame the war. The war was alright. I miss it. It's just you come back to this.' Written during the London bombings of 2005, Motortown is a fierce, violent and controversial response to the anti-war movement - and to the war itself. Chaotic and complex, powerful and provocative, Simon Stephen's new play portrays a volatile and morally insecure world.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, London >>> 21 Apr 2006
Company:
Royal Court Theatre 50 Season
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageOn the Shore of the Wide World
Something is about to happen that will change one family forever. Set over the course of nine months, On the Shore of the Wide World is an epic play about love, family, Roy Keane and the size of the galaxy.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, UK >>> 13 Apr 2005
Company:
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 6 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageOne Minute
Robert Evans is new to the police force, and his enthusiasm for the case is keener than that of his cynical colleague Gary Burroughs. They're both looking for a missing child. But as the mother, Dr Anne Schults, wants to know, when does "missing" become "presumed dead"? Simon Stephens' new play is a disquieting portrait of the many lives that are united in the single moment it takes for a child to disappear.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Crucible Studio Theatre, Sheffield >>> 04 Jun 2003
Company:
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePornography
captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria and promise of 2012 into the chaos and reality of 7/7
Notes:
English language premiere. Pornography was first produced At Schauspielhaus, Hanover in June 2007
1st Produced:
Edinburgh: Traverse Theatre, Scotland, EUR >>> 28 Jul 2008
Company:
co-production with Birmingham Rep
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 5 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePort
Synopsis:
Stockport 1988-2002. Rachel Keats is growing up in town she doesn't like. Abandoned by her mother, her family life is torn to tatters as she is left to bring up her younger brother, who, increasingly is drawn to the excitement out on the streets. When her new partner starts to abuse her, and those she loves leave her behind, will she stay or will she find the strength to make her own way in the world?
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, UK >>> 06 Nov 2002
Company:
-
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PagePunk Rock
As the end of term approaches, a group of sixth-formers prepare themselves for the end of their school lives. But as the world begins to open up before them, they are faced with the very real danger it could swallow them whole. A raw young cast exposes the violence simmering under the surface of achieving success
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London, EUR >>> 03 Sep 2009
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1-408-12636-3
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSea Wall
Things for Alex are good. He loves his wife, his daughter, his city, his job. But sometimes the force of life can crash against you. Sometimes everything you thought you could always depend on can be taken away. Sea Wall is a story about family, fear and the things that can't be undone
Notes:
Part of the Broken Space Season - plays that Are performed either with domestic lighting or in semi-darkness
1st Produced:
Bush Theatre, London, EUR >>> 06 Oct 2008
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408113912
Music:
-
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Genre:
short play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageSupernova
Synopsis:
Ferdy Roberts is an ageing former rock star, forced by mounting debts to form a new band to make a quick buck with a half-hearted tour. Despite his own less than pure motivations, he's in a constant state of bristling against the inadequacies of modern pop culture. His conversation is with his young, eager guitarist (Anthony Welsh), a maths genius who also unwisely confesses to being a virgin. The older musician delightedly coaches the youngster in the ways of the debauched rock star lothario, but can't take the idealistic spark out of the younger man's eyes.
- Corinne Salisbury, British Theatre Guide
- Corinne Salisbury, British Theatre Guide
Notes:
Written By Simon Stephens And Tashan Cushnie
1st Produced:
Suffolk's Latitude Festival 2009
Company:
Lyric Hammersmith
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Piece
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageT5
It portrays a road trip below the heart of London and follows a darkly magical flight out of the edges of the 21st Century.
Notes:
T5 was written for DryWrite Theatre Company As part of their DryDance Night At Camden Roundhouse 07 July 2008
1st Produced:
Company:
Impossible Things before Breakfast
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408154861
Music:
-
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Genre:
30 min reading
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageThousand Stars Explode in the Sky, A
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Notes:
Written by David Eldridge, Robert Holman And Simon Stephens
1st Produced:
Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London, EUR >>> 07 May 2010
Company:
Lyric Hammersmith Production
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408131466
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageThree Kingdoms
As the severed human head of an Estonian woman is found in a river in Hammersmith, two British detectives set off in search of her origins in Europe and how she came to be found dead. Fighting to cross international borders and language barriers, the pair enter a nightmarish world that will change one of them forever. Three Kingdoms tells the stories of trafficked women, the gangs and the police forces across Europe that attempt to control the trade.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Theatre NO99, Sakala 3, Tallinn, Harju 17 Sep 2011
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London >>> 978-1408172957
Music:
-
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Genre:
thriller
Parts:
Male: 7 Female: 6 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageTrial Of Ubu, The
In The Trial of Ubu, Simon Stephens takes the grotesque and amoral megalomaniac dictator from Alfred Jarry's proto-surrealist 1896 play Ubu Roi and places him before a twenty-first century international tribunal. Set in January 2010, at the International Criminal Tribunal sitting in The Hague, it is day 436 of the trial of the dictator Ubu. Sitting before a UN constituted International Tribunal, he is charged with Crimes against Humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Simon Stephens' virtuosic satire examines the often absurd legal wrangling of the international justice system. The Trial of Ubu is a savage comedy that interrogates the assumptions of a Court as it struggles to deal with defendants who are not only opposed to the morality of law, but exist in a different moral dimension altogether. Exploring the central legitimacy and effectiveness of international law, Stephens asks how a civilised society can deal with the perpetrators of unspeakable crime, and wherein lies the legitimacy of any internationally convened tribunal. Taking a wry and intelligent look at the international courts when reduced to senseless and convoluted legal altercations, this funny yet unsettling play asks important questions about legal against moral justice, and the futility of reasoned argument in the presence of a heinous malefactor.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Schauspielhaus Essen 16 Apr 2010
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama, London >>> 978-1408172438
Music:
-
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Genre:
darkly funny satirical play
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 10 characters
Further Reference:
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Top of PageUtopia
Synopsis:
Enough of the dystopian visions, austerity measures and extreme renditions. UTOPIA is a night of humanity at its best, looking at a different vision of our future, a vision of humankind being both human and kind. Just look at what we could have won. . .Soho Theatre and Live Theatre collaborate on the ambitious new writing project - UTOPIA; directed by Artistic Directors Steve Marmion and Max Roberts who will commission writers to create new short plays challenging visions of our future.
Notes:
written by Michael Chaplin, Zoe Cooper, Thomas Eccleshare, Alistair McDowall, Dylan Moran, Anthony Neilson, Janice Okoh, Simon Stephens, Chi Onwurah
1st Produced:
Newcastle Upon Tyne: Live Theatre, Broad Chare, Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 3DQ >>> 31 May 2012
Company:
Live Theatre & Soho Theatre
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
short plays
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageWastwater
Set on the edges of Heathrow Airport, Wastwater is an elliptical triptych - a snapshot of three different couples who make a choice that will define the fallout of their future. Harry is on the point of leaving England. Frieda knows she will never see him again. Lisa and Mark are on the point of a sexual betrayal that takes them into a place darker than they ever thought possible. Sian has a terrifying deal for Jonathan. She isn't going to take no for an answer.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Company:
-
1st Published:
Methuen Drama 978-1408154861
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
Theatre Record Volume XXXI (2011) Issue 07 Page 358
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