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Plays 2: One Minute / Country Music / Motortown / Pornography / Sea Wall
This second collection of plays by Simon Stephens, winner of the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World , perfectly showcases the development of one of the most exciting and impressive theatre talents of recent years. The range of plays in this volume displays a tough sensibility and a courage to confront the more unsettling challenges of our times.
One Minute , first produced in 2003 and revived in London in 2008, has an uncomfortable resonance as it follows five characters variously affected by the disappearance of Daisy, an 11-year-old girl, from Seven Dials, Covent Garden.
Country Music spotlights four fateful moments in the life of Jamie Carris during and after the prison sentences he has served for glassing one man and for killing another.
Motortown , written in response to the War on Terror, is a blistering account of a young soldier's return home from Basra to an England he no longer recognises or connects with.
Pornography captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria and promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of the London bombings of 7/7.
The final play, Sea Wall , is a one-act monologue about grief, following the drowning of a young child.
One Minute , first produced in 2003 and revived in London in 2008, has an uncomfortable resonance as it follows five characters variously affected by the disappearance of Daisy, an 11-year-old girl, from Seven Dials, Covent Garden.
Country Music spotlights four fateful moments in the life of Jamie Carris during and after the prison sentences he has served for glassing one man and for killing another.
Motortown , written in response to the War on Terror, is a blistering account of a young soldier's return home from Basra to an England he no longer recognises or connects with.
Pornography captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria and promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of the London bombings of 7/7.
The final play, Sea Wall , is a one-act monologue about grief, following the drowning of a young child.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 23, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 14, 2012
Stephens writing continues to balance deeply touching stories and clever, original writing. Brilliant. ... Brilliant.
February 24, 2021
Sea Wall stands out to me in this collection, really well done.
February 11, 2023
Stephen's has a wonderful way of writing about modern Britain that is both raw, spiritual and challenging. Of these plays, Motortown was my favourite, turning a vulnerable war veteran into a terrifying force of nature. Pornography is the most experimental, an anthology of scenes with some great highs and a few misses. A great collection.
January 4, 2025
One Minute and Country Music are really good. Motortown feels little bit too provocative for it's own sake. Same goes for Pornography, too experimental as well. Sea Wall remains one of my top monologues to perform in front of a live audience.
February 3, 2021
5 stars for Sea Wall.
September 17, 2016
One thing I've noticed: Simon Stephens doesn't know how to title his plays. The titles frequently feel very disconnected from the play's contents.
That being said, many of these plays are good; some might even be great.
That being said, many of these plays are good; some might even be great.
July 30, 2013
The space between each word breath with grieve and filled with silent tears. Truly tragic.
December 11, 2021
Just... Brilliant. I love this playwright to bits and, once again, after reading these compilation, I knew why.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews