Plays 1: The Memory of Water / Five Kinds of Silence / An Experiment With an Air Pump / Ancient Lights

by Shelagh Stephenson

The first collection of plays by one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary playwrights - "one of the most promising dramatic prospects of the new millennium" (Daily Telegraph)

The collection includes the THE 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 terrifying portrayal of a family for whom rules, duties and punishments are the driving force. In AN 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.

The Memory of Water: "combines a flair for witty dialogue with a relish for the dynamics of theatre?a mistress of comic anguish" Guardian

Five Kinds of Silence: "this quietly eloquent play" Independent

An Experiment With An Air Pump: "teeming with interest, humour, eloquence and, above all, ideas?it's not often we see a new play with this much energy, variety and intelligence" Independent

Ancient Lights: "a cracking, grown-up play?with a light touch that cuts surprisingly deep" Daily Telegraph

Genres: Plays

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2003

About the author

Shelagh Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. She has written several original plays for BBC Radio. These include Darling Peidi, about the Thompson and Bywater murder case, which was broadcast in the Monday Play series in 1993; a Saturday Night Theatre, The Anatomical Venus, broadcast in the following year; and Five Kinds of Silence (1996), which won the Writer's Guild Award for Best Original Drama. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, opened at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in July 1996, and her second, An Experiment With An Air Pump, joint winner of the 1997 Peggy Ramsay Award, opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in February 1998. Also Life is a Dream, and Through a Glass Darkly in 2004.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facing financial ruin, George, Prince of Wales was obliged to marry his first cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But if he had been expecting a docile partner with whom he could maintain appearances, George had seriously underestimated his wife-to-be.

George IV ...... Alex Jennings Caroline of Brunswick ...... Rebecca Saire Henry Brougham ...... Julian Rhind Tutt Lord Sidmouth ...... Chris McHallem Lord Liverpool ...... Richard Howard Sir Robert Gifford ...... Mark Lambert Lady Jersey ...... Jill Cardo Mr Majoucci ...... Nial Cusack

Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Emma Egan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Memory of Water has a great monologue lol