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Shelagh Stephenson

SHELAGH STEPHENSON

  (1955 - )
Nationality:    British
facebook     email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Julia Tyrell Management  Represented in the USA by the Gersh Agency for both her film and theatre work

Shelagh's writing career started in radio for which she has written original plays, series episodes and adaptations; the most recent was "FIVE KINDS OF SILENCE". Her first play for the stage "the MEMORY OF WATER" was produced at Hampstead Theatre in 1996, directed by Terry Johnson. In 1997 "AN EXPERIMENT WITH AN AIR PUMP" won the Peggy Ramsay Award and was produced at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. In Oct 1998 the play transferred to Hampstead Theatre, starring Barbara Flynn. the MEMORY OF WATER played at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York and simultaneously toured the south of England, subsequently coming into the West End. In 2000 it won an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and has been produced worldwide. Shelagh's stage adaptation of her radio play FIVE KINDS OF SILENCE played at the Hammersmith Lyric May-July 2000. ANCIENT LIGHTS for Hampstead Theatre opened Dec '00. MAPPA MUNDI was produced in the Cottesloe, National Theatre in Autumn 02, directed by Bill Alexander and starring Alun Armstrong and Lia Williams. TV commissions in 2001 include 2 x 90' the AFFAIRS OF MEN (Watchmaker Prods/4 Boys) and 100' adaptation of a Frances Fyfield novel SHADOW PLAY (Arrowhead/ITV). BEFORE YOU GO her feature adaptation of the Memory of Water' was filmed in 2001, directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Julie Walters. Her second original film script, the ANATOMICAL VENUS was commissioned by Pacificus Films. Most recently ENLIGHTENMENT was produced by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in March 05. Shelagh won the prestigious Sloan Commission Award in New York in 2003 and the resulting play will be produced by Manhattan Theatre Club. Shelagh is currently completing another play for radio and will shortly begin work on a major television project for Films of Record/BBC.

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below is a list of Shelagh Stephenson's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Ancient Lights         Chain Play, The         Darling Peidi         Enlightenment         Experiment With An Air Pump, An         Fallout         Five Kinds Of Silence         Harriet Martineau Dreams Of Dancing         Long Road, The         Mappa Mundi         Memory Of Water, The         Northern Odyssey, A

Ancient Lights

Ancient Lights
Hollywood actor Tom Cavallero and girlfriend Iona are spending Christmas in the English countryside with his oldest friends, Bea and Kitty. Bea's new lover, Tad, would rather hole up quietly with Pathology for Beginners. Her daughter, Joni, would rather be in London. And how can anyone relax whilst Iona's filming their every move? She's making a documentary about "the real Tom." But who is that exactly? Tom, Kitty and Bea have known each other since they were young and unformed. But who have they become, and what price have they paid?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre, London >>>     29 Nov 2000

Organisations:
in association with the Peter Wolff Theatre Trust

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413760708

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:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Chain Play, The

Synopsis:
One off performance of chain writing to celebrate the National theatre's 25th anniversary. A scene each from all the authors for a performance on one night

Notes:
Written By Terry Johnson, Philip Ridley, Charlotte Jones, Lee Hall, Sebastian Barry, Zinnie Harris, Kevin Elyot, Nick Dear, Tanika Gupta, Frank McGuinness, Nick Stafford, Stephen Sondheim, Colin Teevan, Patrick Marber, David Lan, Sarah Daniels, Martin She

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Conceived and commissioned by Angus Mackenchnie

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Darling Peidi

Synopsis:
Darling Peidi tells the true story of the obsessive love affair between Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters, that became the focus of one of the most notorious court cases of the 1920s.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Enlightenment

Enlightenment
Four months since the disappearance of their son, Adam, all Lia and Nick can cling to is a vague email mentioning Jakarta, and the possibility that somewhere he may still be alive. As they struggle with grief and uncertainty, a spiritualist and a determined journalist seem their only hope.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413775214

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:
full length Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Experiment With An Air Pump, An

Experiment With An Air Pump, An
1799-On the eve of a new century, a Northern English house buzzes with scientific experiments, furtive romance, and farcical amateur Dramatics. Present Day-In a world of scientific chaos and genetic engineering, the same house reveals a dark secret buried for 200 years

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413733108

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:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Fallout

Synopsis:
In the 1950's, a blacklisted screenwriter confronts scientist Robert Oppenheimer, with whom she has a shared past. A noirish tale of Hollywood, espionage, and the Manhattan Project

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Five Kinds Of Silence

Five Kinds Of Silence
Billy controls his wife and two adult daughters to the extent that they can't leave the room without asking permission. He runs his family as a personal fiefdom, and the women are there to service him and his madness. He is violent, disturbed and sexually controlling. But he is also tragic, sad, a lost soul. One day his family shoots him dead. the play shows us a distorted world of madness, control and despair through the eyes of dead Billy and those of his family, struggling to understand reality outside their stifling tomb.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Out of the Blue

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413714701

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:
90 min Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Harriet Martineau Dreams Of Dancing

Synopsis:
In 1844 radical writer and thinker Harriet Martineau relocates from London to Tynemouth. She has some undisclosed illness. Harriet argues with visitors about women's rights, slavery and inequalities among the classes

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Live Theatre, Newcastle     2016

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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Long Road, The

Long Road, The
concerns the random stabbing of an 18 year old boy by a girl of the same age one night in a London shop while she was out of her head on drugs. She asked for a pound, he told her to eff off, and was knifed in the heart for his brusqueness.
- Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Soho Theatre, London, Eur >>>     19 May 2008

Organisations:
Synergy Theatre Project and Forgiveness Project

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-1408113905

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:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Mappa Mundi

Mappa Mundi
While Anna prepares for her wedding, her Father Jack, a passionate map collector, confronts the limits of his life. Although his research proves the family is related to a famous 18th-century cartographer and plantation owner, Anna is interested that they may also be descended from a slave.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413773029

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:  2            Other:  6

Further Reference:

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Memory Of Water, The

Memory Of Water, The
Three sisters and their partners gather at the home of their recently dead mother and revisit the past in poignant and often hilarous way

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre, London >>>     16 Jul 1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Methuen Drama    978-0413714701

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:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Northern Odyssey, A

Synopsis:
A Northern Odyssey deals with Winslow Homer, one of the most respected figures in American Art History. In 1881, Homer paid a visit to Cullercoats, then a fishing village, and a minor artist's colony. He stayed for almost two years. What brought him here, and why did he stage so long? A Northern Odyssey is a play about love and difference, which looks at art, artists and outsiders.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

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:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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