Stephenson Plays: 1: A Memory of Water; Five Kinds of Silence; An Experiment with an Air Pump; Ancient Lights

Description

This collection includes "A Memory of Water" in which three sisters meet on the evening after their mother's funeral and fight out old troubles with one another. "Five Kinds of Silence" is a portrayal of a family for whom rules, duties and punishments are the driving force. In "Experiment with an Air Pump" in a world of scientific chaos, cloning and genetic engineering, the cellar of a house yields up the secrets of the scientific discoveries of 1799. In "Ancient Lights", Hollywood stars come home to the hills of Northumberland.

Shelagh Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1996 and subsequently transferred to the West End, where it won an Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2000. Her second play, An Experiment With An Air Pump, opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. It was joint recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award and later transferred to the Hampstead Theatre. Both plays subsequently ran at New York's Manhattan Theatre Club. Her third play, Ancient Lights, was produced at Hampstead Theatre in December 2000. She has written several radio plays, including the award-winning Five Kinds of Silence, which she adapted for the stage and which was presented at the Lyric, Hammersmith in 2000. Her screen adaptation of The Memory of Water was released in spring 2002 with the title Before You Go.