Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Simon Stephens is one of Britain's and arguably Europe's pre-eminent playwrights. He has garnered numerous awards for both his original works and his adaptations, with his adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time winning 7 Olivier Awards including Best Play and enjoying acclaim on Broadway. In the first book to provide a critical account of the full variety of Stephens's work, Jacqueline Bolton gives a detailed analysis of his plays and their production, reviews current discourses around his work and offers a framework for future enquiry. Essays from Basil Chiasson (University of Calgary), James Hudson (University of Lincoln) and Cristina Delgado-Garcia (Manchester Metropolitan University) provide additional international perspectives, while contributions from theatre practitioners Sean Holmes, Marianne Elliot, Sarah Frankcom and Sebastian Nuebling illuminate the work from a director's viewpoint.
Since the beginning of his professional career in 1998, Stephens's award-winning plays have been translated into over a dozen languages, been produced on four continents, and feature prominently in the repertoires of theatres across Europe. His collaborations with actors, directors, dramaturgs, designers, novelists, musicians and choreographers have produced a dramaturgically diverse body of plays, musicals, adaptations, texts and monologues. As Bolton demonstrates, this extensive oeuvre has been animated by a search for optimism within chaos and violence. In its coverage of work from 1998's Bluebird to Carmen Disruption in 2015, the Companion contextualizes Stephens's ouevre through his embrace of aesthetics and processes encountered in European theatre and, in particular, the impact this has had upon attitudes towards the function of writing and the role of the audience in live performance.
The Companion serves as an engaging study of one of the most restlessly creative and important dramatists of our generation.
Synopsis
Simon Stephens is one of Europe's pre-eminent living playwrights. Since the beginning of his career in 1998, Stephens's award-winning plays have been translated into over twenty languages, been produced on four continents, and continue to feature prominently in the repertoires of European theatre. His original works have garnered numerous awards, with his stage adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time winning seven Olivier Awards and enjoying acclaim on Broadway.
In the first book to provide a critical account of Stephens's work, Jacqueline Bolton draws upon the playwright's unpublished personal archives, as well as original interviews with directors and actors, to advance detailed analyses of his original plays and their productions, examine contemporary approaches to playwriting, and deliver insights into broader debates regarding text, performance and authorship. Caridad Svich addresses Stephens's theatrical output between 2014 and 2019, and essays from Mireia Aragay and James Hudson provide additional perspectives on international productions and the playwright's adaptive practices. Andrew Haydon's edited interviews with six of Stephens's key collaborators - Marianne Elliott, Sarah Frankcom, Sean Holmes, Ramin Gray, Katie Mitchell and Carrie Cracknell - further illuminate the work from a director's viewpoint.
The Theatre of Simon Stephens situates the playwright's oeuvre within his embrace of aesthetics and working relations encountered in European theatre cultures, focusing in particular upon shifting attitudes towards the function of the playwright, the relationship between playwrights and directors, and the role of the audience in live performance.
The Companion serves as a lively and engaging study of one of the most restlessly creative and important dramatists of our generation.