Herons

Description

Set around Limehouse Cut and the Lee River in East London, "Herons" is the story of 14-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by his father's actions. As the teenagers that surrond him on his estate step up their campaign of bullying, the play escalates to a violent climax. This programme text of "Herons", commissioned by the Royal Court, is published to tie in with the opening night on 18th May 2001.

Simon Stephens studied at York University, then lived for two years in Edinburgh before moving to Lo ndon in 1994. His first play, Sleep of the Just, was staged at the New Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in 1994; his next, Bring Me Sunshine, at the Assembly Rooms at the 1997 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, transferring to the Riverside Studios in London the same year. His next play, Bluebird, was produced by the Royal Court in London in 1998 as part of their 'Choice' festival of new writing and received much critical acclaim.

Stephens is terrific on the rituals of fear and violence * Telegraph * Simon Stephens' sharp shock of a play . . . Stephens and Joel Horwood (as dramaturg) let the text flow, with staccato scenes sliding into each other as if they're all part of an endless now - time and space funnelled into a single bleak and deserted playground. . . . There are no easy answers, just cycles of hurt. It seems grimly relevant today, as we demonise or dismiss sections of society for self-reassurance. * Stage * Stephens suggests that there are social factors explaining acts of grotesque cruelty and that the human spirit can never be entirely quashed. . . . It's an unremittingly powerful play * Guardian * a bracing vision of adolescent cruelty * Evening Standard * It's in-yer-face theatre at its grimy best * Exeunt * [A] bracing vision of adolescent cruelty. * Evening Standard *