Punk rock
By: Simon Stephens
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Published: 2009
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
Number of pages: 102
Subjects: Teenagers; Drama
Description: Edgy and acute, 'Punk Rock' is a slow-building story of violence at school, told with compelling depth and tension. The play introduces us to seven high-achieving teenagers at a fee-paying grammar school. They are holed up in the Upper School library, tucked away from supervision, revising - or not, as the case may be - for their mock A-Levels. William, a bright Oxbridge-hopeful, falls for the enigmatic new girl Lilly, but she's falling for someone else. Watched by his girlfriend Cissy, Bennett bullies the unconfident Tanya and the awkward prodigy Chadwick. It is a recognisable stew of rivalries, desires and confusions, each character's uncertainties carefully drawn. But as exam pressure builds, anxiety flares up into aggression, revealing a raw undercurrent of panic and hostility. 'Punk Rock' premiered in 2009 at the Lyric Hammersmith, London.