Simon Stephens Knihy

Stephens Plays: 2 brings together four major plays by this award-winning playwright from the first decade of the twenty-first century and the short play Sea Wall, frist produced at the Bush Theatre in October 2008. The collection features an introduction by the author.

In her late forties, Harper Regan suddenly leaves her family in the suburbs of West London and sets off on a mission to see her father before he dies. Her journey becomes a road trip through the heart of England in this violent and comic exploration of the moralities of sex and death.Harper Regan is the major new play by the National Theatre's resident dramatist, Simon Stephens, and will be directed by Marianne Elliott, current holder of the Evening Standard Theatre award for best director. The play opens at the National in April 2008.

There's a hole running through the centre of my stomach. You must have all felt a bit awkward because you can probably see it. Sea Wall is a delicate monologue, completely devastating and beautifully powerful. Alex's story, spoken directly to the audience, begins full of clear light and smiles, as he speaks about his wife, visiting her father in the South of France, having a daughter, photography, and the bottom of the sea. His tone is natural, happy and engaging, with flickers of questions about belief and religion glimpsed under the surface. But his contentment falls away into deep and heart-breaking grief, crumbling to pieces with a vividness that is incredibly moving.