DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit „The development of Simon Stephens’ dramatic aesthetic: An analysis of eight selected plays“ Verfasser Mag. Alexander Tschida angestrebter akademischer Grad Magister der Philosophie (Mag.phil.) Wien, 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 343 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Diplomstudium Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuer: Ao. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Rudolf Weiss For Dani. Steffi and Martin. And my parents Sylvia and Hans. Table of contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 2. Simon William Stephens: Biography and career ............................................................... 3 2.1 Education ..................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Stephens’ way to the theatre ........................................................................................ 4 2.3 Early attempts at writing drama ................................................................................... 5 2.4 Beginning of his professional career ........................................................................... 6 2.5 Overview of Stephens’ work: Plays, adaptations, screenplays ................................... 9 2.6 Awards and nominations ........................................................................................... 10 2.7 Inspiration and influences .......................................................................................... 11 3. Dramatic aesthetic ............................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Two shifts: Herons/Port and Pornography ................................................................ 14 3.2 Dramatic structure ..................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Setting ........................................................................................................................ 21 3.3.1 Place ................................................................................................................... 21 3.3.2 Time ................................................................................................................... 24 3.3.3 Historical background ........................................................................................ 27 3.4 Dramatis personae ..................................................................................................... 29 3.4.1 Origin and class background .............................................................................. 29 3.4.2 Figure conception ............................................................................................... 33 3.4.2.1 Alcoholics ................................................................................................... 33 3.4.2.2 Failed and/or absent fathers ........................................................................ 36 3.4.2.3 Failed and/or absent mothers ...................................................................... 38 3.4.2.4 Dead or absent wives .................................................................................. 39 3.4.2.5 Dead children .............................................................................................. 40 3.4.2.6 Teenagers .................................................................................................... 41 3.5 Themes and motifs ..................................................................................................... 42 3.5.1 Broken/dysfunctional families ........................................................................... 43 3.5.2 Alienation ........................................................................................................... 45 3.5.3 Ecology, environment and nature ....................................................................... 50 3.5.4 Loneliness ........................................................................................................... 55 3.6 Sound and music ........................................................................................................ 56 3.7 Intertextual references ............................................................................................... 59 3.8 Autobiographical references ...................................................................................... 61 3.9 Titles .......................................................................................................................... 62 4. Stephens’ position in contemporary British drama .......................................................... 65 4.1 In-yer-face theatre ...................................................................................................... 65 4.2 Naturalism and social realism .................................................................................... 67 4.3 New writing ............................................................................................................... 69 5. Critical reception on British stages .................................................................................. 72 5.1 Bluebird ..................................................................................................................... 72 5.2 Christmas ................................................................................................................... 73 5.3 Herons ........................................................................................................................ 75 5.4 Port ............................................................................................................................. 77 5.5 On the Shore of the Wide World ............................................................................... 78 5.6 Motortown ................................................................................................................. 81 5.7 Pornography ............................................................................................................... 83 5.8 Wastwater .................................................................................................................. 85 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 87 7. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 90 7.1 Primary sources ......................................................................................................... 90 7.2 Secondary sources ..................................................................................................... 90 8. Appendix: List of English and German premieres ........................................................... 97 9. Index ............................................................................................................................... 102 10. Zusammenfassung .......................................................................................................... 108 11. Curriculum Vitae ............................................................................................................ 109 1 1. Introduction “Stephens is one of the most prolific British playwrights” (Innes 462) and “one of the most important of today’s British dramatists” (Innes 463). Theatre scholar and critic Aleks Sierz states that “[d]uring the 2000s, Simon Stephens emerged as one of the best new writers in Britain” (Introduction, The Methuen drama book xv), whose work – in the words of scholar and writer Dan Rebellato – “establishes him as one of the key playwrights of the decade” (“New Theatre Writing: Simon Stephens” 174). Over the past fifteen years since his first play Bluebird, Stephens has written more than 20 stage plays and has been widely performed in theatres around Britain (see Appendix). According to Blachnio Stephens has become “an established and critically acclaimed author within less than a decade of his debut” (par.1). Stephens is very present in the English- and German-speaking theatre world, as he explains in a recent interview with the blog Dear Brutus, In Our Stars: I’m not writing all the time because I’m in rehearsal all the time. At the moment this time [December 2012], I’ve had 6 fucking plays on this year and that’s just in England, plays in Germany and plays in the USA… (“Interview with Simon Stephens” par.46) Innes states that “[h]e has also developed an international standing, with some of his plays (most notably Pornography) being first performed in Germany” (447). In commercial terms, Stephens is currently one of the most successful British writers. Referring to one of his most recent plays, Stephens says that “‘Curious Incident (of the Dog in the Night Time)’ was probably [his] most successful play to date and over the summer something like over 28,000 people watched it” (“Interview with Simon Stephens” par.9). Despite his success and popularity in contemporary theatre academic publications about Simon Stephens are rare. To my knowledge, no scholarly study on the work of Simon Stephens has been published to date. There are short sections on Stephens in the recent books by the scholars David Lane, Aleks Sierz, Amelia Howe Kritzer and Little/McLaughlin as well as a chapter on Stephens written by Christopher Innes for The Methuen drama guide to contemporary