Stephens Plays: 3

In Simon Stephens' third volume of plays, the writer displays a tough sensibility and a courage to confront the more unsettling challenges of our times.

Simon Stephens is one of the most exciting and prominent theatre voices to have emerged out of the last ten years. His work is characterised by a combination of sensitive character depiction and tough confrontation with political choices. This collection includes Marine Parade - a musical published exclusively in this collection.Harper Regan follows a woman's road trip through the heart of England in a violent and comic exploration of the moralities of sex and death. Quietly harrowing, this play is a barometer for our times exploring dark secrets and familial estrangement. Marine Parade is a musical about sex, betrayal and hope, set in a run-down B&B on Brighton's waterfront. A moving and poignant play, it 'captures the peculiar aroma of Brighton, with its mix of the bracing and the melancholy' (Guardian). Olivier award-winning play On the Shore of the Wide World is an epic piece about love, family, Roy Keane and the size of the galaxy. Punk Rock is based on Simon Stephens's experience as a teacher and he describes this play as 'The History Boys on crack'. It explores the underlying tensions and potential violence in a group of affluent, articulate seventeen year old students.