Stephenson Plays: 1

The Memory of Water won an Olivier award for Best Comedy, "Five Kinds of Silence" won the Writer's Guild Award for Best Original Radio Play of 1996 and the Sony Award for Best Original Drama. "An Ex periment with an Air Pump" won the Peggy Ramsay Award in 1997.

This collection of Shelagh Stephenson plays offers her Olivier award-winning work - "A Memory of Water", "Five Kinds of Silence", "Experiment with an Air Pump", and "Ancient Lights".The first collection of plays by one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary playwrights - "one of the most promising dramatic prospects of the new millennium" (Daily Telegraph) The collection includes the THE MEMORY OF WATER in which three sisters meet on the evening after their mother's funeral and fight out old troubles with one another. FIVE KINDS OF SILENCE is a terrifying portrayal of a family for whom rules, duties and punishments are the driving force. In AN EXPERIMENT WITH AN AIR PUMP in a world of scientific chaos, cloning and genetic engineering, the cellar of a house yields up the secrets of the scientific discoveries of 1799. In ANCIENT LIGHTS, Hollywood stars come home to the hills of Northumberland.The Memory of Water: "combines a flair for witty dialogue with a relish for the dynamics of theatre...a mistress of comic anguish" Guardian Five Kinds of Silence: "this quietly eloquent play" Independent An Experiment With An Air Pump: "teeming with interest, humour, eloquence and, above all, ideas...it's not often we see a new play with this much energy, variety and intelligence" Independent Ancient Lights: "a cracking, grown-up play...with a light touch that cuts surprisingly deep" Daily Telegraph