Shelagh Stephenson

Shelagh Stephenson is an English playwright and actress.

Background and education

Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University.

Career

Plays

Stephenson's stage plays include The Memory of Water (1997), An Experiment with an Air Pump, Ancient Lights, Five Kinds of Silence (radio play 1996; stage play 2000), Mappa Mundi (2002) and The Long Road (2008) which was written in collaboration with the UK-based charity, The Forgiveness Project,[1] to critical acclaim.[2][3]

Her plays frequently deal with new advances in science, such as the concept in the title of her first stage play, and including commentary on possibly pseudoscientific fads like urine therapy. Methuen Publishing Ltd published a collected edition of all four of these Stephenson plays in 2003.

An Experiment with an Air Pump was revived in 2009 at Hampstead Theatre, where the original production appeared in 1998 after premiering at the Royal Exchange, Manchester; the play has been since revived at the universities of San Diego and New Orleans, the English Theatre, Berlin, the University of Waterloo and the Giant Olive Theatre Company, in London.

Radio

Her plays for BBC Radio include Darling Peidi, 1993; Five Kinds of Silence, 1996, which was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Best Original Drama; Life is a Dream, 2004; Nemesis, 2005; and The People’s Princess, 2008. Shelagh was a scriptwriter on BBC Radio 4's drama series Citizens.

Film

The Memory of Water was made into a film called Before You Go in 2002 starring Julie Walters and Tom Wilkinson and directed by Lewis Gilbert.

Acting

Stephenson appeared in Coronation Street in 1981 as the minor character Sandra Webb. She has subsequently had parts in Rumpole's Return, Sapphire & Steel, The Gentle Touch, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Boon, Paradise Postponed and Big Deal.

References

  1. ↑ "The Forgiveness Project - events".
  2. ↑ "The Long Road; The Guardian". theguardian.com. 26 May 2008.
  3. ↑ "The Long Road, Soho Theatre, London". Financial Times. 20 May 2008.

External links