The Playwrights Database
STEVE HENNESSY
Nationality: Britishemail: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: n/a
Steve Hennessy was Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre from 2004-2006. He has had twenty plays staged in Bristol and London and four radio plays broadcast in Britain and Ireland. His play Still Life won the Venue Magazine Best New Play award, and Moonshadow (White BearTheatre) was a Time Out Critics Choice.
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below is a list of Steve Hennessy's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Act Of Union Cave Deathsong Demon Box, The Diary Of A Madman Inhabitants Of the Moon Are Noses Lullabies Of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet Moonshadow Murder Club, The Power Of Speech, The Secret Of Fire, The Stairway To Heaven Still Life Venus At Broadmoor WildernessAct Of Union
Synopsis:
the Irish famine was the greatest catastrophe in nineteenth century europe. a million people died and two million were forced to flee Ireland while the British government sat idly by. the effects of this holocaust are still felt in Ireland today where the population is two million less than it was in 1845. 1847, the famine is at its height and people are pouring out of the country. For years, Captain Clarke has captained a ship carrying coal from Cardiff to Cork. On the return journey, his ship is now crammed full of refugees. the evangelical Captain is convinced that he is on a mission from God to rescue these people and that his ship has become a latter day Noah's ark. But his religious visions are increasingly fuelled by the opiates he takes as painkillers. His passengers are a tapestry of Irish peasant society at the time - from those who violently opposed British rule to those who will do anything to survive. Upon arrival in england, tensions mount when an outbreak of typhus confines passengers to the ship. the hold of the ship where the passengers have sweated out the journey is full of suppressed rage and coal dust, waiting for the match that will set off an explosion.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Show of Strength, Bristol 1997
Organisations:
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1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageCave
Synopsis:
In a remote cave on an island, the playwright euripides is holed up, desperately trying to write. But time is running out. His plays no longer win prizes, his audiences are dwindling and his political enemies are closing in. a war is raging outside, a terrible war crime has been committed in the name of Democracy, and the cult of Dionysus with its violent and bizarre sex rituals is growing stronger every day. Inside, something terrifying is hiding in the darkness deeper inside the cave, and a pregnant follower of Dionysus has arrived who is about to blow euripides' world apart.
Notes:
part of Writing in the Margins
1st Produced:
alma Tavern Theatre, Bristol 2008
Organisations:
Theatre West
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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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
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Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDeathsong
Synopsis:
the composer Musorgsky ('Pictures at an exhibition,' 'Songs and Dances of Death.') has disappeared on another bender. In a last desperate attempt to save him from himself, his friends have arranged a grand concert tour of Russia for the composer, starting tomorrow. But now he cannot be found. 'Besides the drinking, epilepsy and strokes, I'm afraid he's also a bit mad,' his doctor said. Wandering around in the freezing Russian winter, how deep a hold will the madness take this time? His friends set off in hot pursuit of him, first on a headlong chase through the streets of nineteenth century St. Petersburg but then on into the landscape of Musorgsky's music itself, and in particular the chilling song 'Trepak.' In that song, Death waylays a drunken peasant in a snowstorm and lures him into the forest to sleep and dream of summer. as more and more ghosts come looming out of the snow, Musorgsky will have to face the figure who has always haunted his dreams and his music. Baba Yaga, the death hag herself.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol 2004
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Plays International magazine, January 2005, -
Music:
-
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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
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageDemon Box, The
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Notes:
Part of Lullabies of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet
1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol Nov 2007
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Music:
-
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Genre:
Short Play One act 65 min
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDiary Of A Madman
Synopsis:
Poprishchin, the lovelorn functionary driven mad by his own irrelevance
- -Brian Logan, Time Out London
- -Brian Logan, Time Out London
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Organisations:
Stepping Out Theatre
1st Published:
- -
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
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Genre:
short play adaptation
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageInhabitants Of the Moon Are Noses
Synopsis:
a whistle-stop tour of Gogol's biography brought to knockabout, Brecht an life
- -Brian Logan, Time Out London
- -Brian Logan, Time Out London
Notes:
from the book by Nikolai Gogol
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Stepping Out Theatre
1st Published:
- -
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
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Genre:
One act
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: doubling
Further Reference:
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Top of PageLullabies Of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet
Four plays. Five murderers. Five victims. Based on the true stories of five of Broadmoor's most notorious inmates from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the people they murdered. the closely linked plays of Lullabies of Broadmoor weave together a rich, dark, Gothic tragicomedy about murder, love, madness, personal responsibility and redemption
Notes:
Four plays : the Demon Box, Venus At Broadmoor, the Murder Club And Wilderness
1st Produced:
the Corner House, Frome 12 Jul 2012
Organisations:
Stepping Out Theatre
1st Published:
Oberon Books (2011) >>> 978-1849431620
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Quartet of Plays
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageMoonshadow
Synopsis:
a young psychiatric patient is obsessed with getting down to Cornwall for the 1999 eclipse. He escapes violent confrontations with nurses by astrally projecting himself high above the Hospital grounds. His imagination is gripped by the visionary imagery of the Book of Revelations and he uses this constantly in his battles with the staff. He strikes up a relationship with Judy, a fellow patient who is haunted by her memories of rape. their relationship is mirrored strangely in the relationship of the doctor and head nurse treating them. as John struggles to organise an escape plan that will enable him to see the eclipse, the hospital becomes a cosmic battleground where the forces of light and darkness, good and evil, madness and sanity, play out a last great apocalyptic battle.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Partisan Theatre, Bristol 2000
Organisations:
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1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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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: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMurder Club, The
1922 and murder is in the air. Britain is engaged in a genocidal war in Iraq using poison gas and other weapons of mass destruction and two notorious murderers are meeting for the first time in Broadmoor Hospital for the Criminally Insane. On 16th December 1897, out of work and impoverished actor Richard Prince waited outside the Stage Door of the adelphi theatre in London and stabbed to death William Terriss, Prince was tried, found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor. Ronald True thieved and lied his way through high society and conned his way into the Royal Flying Corps posing as an ace pilot even though he had crashed at least five aeroplanes. True blamed many of his crimes on a doppelganger whom he called 'the other True.' On Sunday 5th March, 1922, True stayed the night at the flat of a prostitute called Olive Young whom he had pursued obsessively for the previous fortnight. He killed her and stole valuables from her flat. He was soon picked up, charged and tried for murder. Like Prince he was found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor. after the verdict, he remarked to one of the warders 'I knew I should never be hanged. after all, I've committed no crime.' and now Prince and True have been put in charge of an evening of entertainment. Propoganda and reality, fact and fiction, real life and theatre, madness and sanity. the lines blur and shift uneasily in an intense psychological thriller. Welcome to the Murder Club.
Notes:
Part of Lullabies of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet
1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol Nov 2003
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Plays International magazine, Summer 2005,
in Lullabies of Broadmoor, Oberon Books (2011) >>> -
in Lullabies of Broadmoor, Oberon Books (2011) >>> -
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:
Short Play One act 65 min
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PagePower Of Speech, The
Synopsis:
Silence - the most powerful sound in the world. But do any of us ever really have the right to remain silent? an old man is brought into a busy psychiatric hospital after he has been found wandering the streets. He will not speak and no one can find out anything about him. Tension mounts when another patient, claims to be in telepathic contact with him. She starts to produce evidence that this may be true, but she is also keeping secrets of her own. their consultant is determined that both patients will speak. Into this charged and volatile situation comes an idealistic young junior doctor who is keen to treat both patients without recourse to drugs. He soon finds himself out of his depth with both his senior colleague and the two patients as the action races towards a tragic conclusion.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Stepping Out Theatre Company, Bristol 2002
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Plays International' magazine, July 2002, -
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: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSecret Of Fire, The
Synopsis:
ellen sits in her kitchen, brooding over the past, convinced she can hear gas escaping. She has a series of increasingly bizarre visits from the gasman who is trying to track down the mysterious leak. each seeking something the other cannot give, their interaction is by turns pained, and darkly comic. Meanwhile ellen's daughter Julie is putting together the pieces of a life shattered by her dysfunctional and abusive family. the presence of Len, the dead father is as pervasive and powerful in the play as the smell of gas and the brooding atmosphere of secrecy which is his legacy. as the claustrophobia increases around ellen, the possibility of escape and healing finally opens up for Julie. although rooted deeply in Greek mythology, "the Secret of Fire" depicts a modern world where computers offer both the instrument of abuse and the opportunity for healing and freedom.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol 1998
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
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: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageStairway To Heaven
Synopsis:
egypt, 2,700 B.C. On his first day working on the pyramid, Makhthon witnesses a fatal accident. He has to adapt quickly to his new life - backbreaking work, deaths, maimings, incessant drinking, the repressive presence of the priests and sexual exploitation by older men. He becomes the object of rivalry between the three older men in his gang, while pursuing his own dreams of the pharaoh's love for him. at the same time he struggles to answer the big questions. What is the pyramid for? What is the meaning of their labour? Is the pharaoh really the living incarnation of God? To escape the brutal realities of his daily life, he becomes increasingly obsessed with the pharaoh, and with the ghosts and visions that haunt his dreams. Pressure cooker tension mounts in the desert heat and it boils over into betrayal, revenge and bloodshed before the great mysteries are finally resolved.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol 2001
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Plays International magazine, January 2002, -
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: 4 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageStill Life
Synopsis:
an artist has been progressively disabled by a wasting disease for which doctors have given contradictory diagnoses. Claire is working on an installation about media coverage of the Balkan conflicts, but losing strength and now in a wheelchair, she struggles to complete it. She also fears that, for all its tragedy, her subject has still not really reached out and touched her. Through the Internet she meets a charismatic photographer who has recently arrived from Kosovo, "the Land of Death and Miracles". Gregor offers to help, but also wants to make Claire the subject of his next exhibition. appalled, but fascinated by his account of the horrors of war, she eventually agrees. Like Claire, Gregor believes in the magical, healing power of art. Didn't Pygmalion make his statue walk? Claire is sceptical about his mysticism, but feels drawn to the Balkan authenticity which she fears her work lacks. Gregor hates having become a kind of vulture hovering over the battlefields of the Balkans. But he also thinks all true artists are parasitic on human suffering. That's why he's interested in vampires. He's also just applied for asylum. Is Gregor really fleeing from war? Who has most to gain from their meeting, and who has most to lose? as Gregor's story starts to unravel, Claire becomes ever more unsure of anything in her own life. Her subject has finally reached out and touched her. But will the touch bring death, or a miracle?
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Partisan Theatre, Bristol 2001
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Plays International magazine, summer 2001, -
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: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageVenus At Broadmoor
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Notes:
Part of Lullabies of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet
1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol Nov 2010
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
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:
Short Play One act 65 min
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageWilderness
William Chester Minor (1834 - 1920) served as a surgeon in the U.S. Union army during the American Civil War. Terrible experiences there weakened an already fragile mind and the army pensioned him off. He came to live in London where he walked out of his lodgings in Lambeth on 17th February 1872 and shot a complete stranger dead. the man was George Merrett, a furnace stoker at the local brewery. Minor was imprisoned in Broadmoor for the next thirty-eight years. While there he became deeply involved in the writing of the Oxford english Dictionary. eliza, the widow of his murder victim visited him for a number of years and, although illiterate herself, brought him books from London for his Dictionary work. Minor has turned his Broadmoor cell into a library to help with his Dictionary work. But his hopes of peaceful asylum are shattered as his memories of war and his old sexual demons begin to press in around him again.
Notes:
Part of Lullabies of Broadmoor - A Broadmoor Quartet
1st Produced:
Theatre West, Bristol Oct 2002
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
Plays International magazine, august 2003,
in Lullabies of Broadmoor, Oberon Books (2011) >>> 978-1849431620
in Lullabies of Broadmoor, Oberon Books (2011) >>> 978-1849431620
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:
Short Play One act 65 min
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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