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Simon Stephens began his theatrical career in the literary department of the Royal Court Theatre, where he ran its Young Writers' Programme. His plays for theatre include Bluebird (Royal Court Theatre, London, 1998, directed by Gordon Anderson); Herons (Royal Court Theatre, 2001); Port (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 2002); One Minute (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2003 and Bush Theatre, London, 2004); Christmas (Bush Theatre, 2004); Country Music (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 2004); On the Shore of the Wide World (Royal Exchange Theatre and National Theatre, London, 2005); Motortown (Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, 2006); Pornography (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hanover, 2007; Edinburgh Festival/Birmingham Rep, 2008 and Tricycle Theatre, London, 2009); Harper Regan (National Theatre, 2008); Sea Wall (Bush Theatre, 2008/Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 2009); Heaven (Traverse Theatre, 2009); Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith, London, and Royal Exchange Theatre, 2009); The Trial of Ubu (Essen Schauspielhaus/Toneelgroep Amsterdam, 2010); A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (co-written with David Eldridge and Robert Holman; Lyric Hammersmith, London, 2010); Marine Parade (co-written with Mark Eitzel; Brighton International Festival, 2010); T5 (Traverse Theatre, 2010); Wastwater (Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, 2011); Morning (Lyric Hammersmith, 2012); an adaptation of A Doll's House (Young Vic, 2012); an adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (National Theatre, 2012); and Blindsided (Royal Exchange, 2014) . His radio plays include Five Letters Home to Elizabeth (BBC Radio 4, 2001) and Digging (BBC Radio 4, 2003). His screenwriting includes an adaptation of Motortown for Film4 (2009); the two-part serial Dive (with Dominic Savage) for Granada/BBC (2009); and a short film adaptation of Pornography for Channel 4's 'Coming Up' series (2009). Awards include the Pearson Award for Best New Play, 2001, for Port; Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World, 2005; and for Motortown German critics in Theater Heute's annual poll voted him Best Foreign Playwright, 2007.Stark, dream-like play
WhatsOnStage
The apparent slickness of the play carries a strong poetic resonance, too, and stands alongside the very best of Stephens' output to date
WhatsOnStage
Stephens narrates the story with a light touch
The Stage
the themes of the play come at you with their flies undone
The Arts Desk
Stephens has written a Continental play for an English stage
The Arts Desk
The mercurial playwright is back in avant-garde mode after hitting West End gold with 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' . . . 'Birdland isn't really about rock stars or even rich people - like much of Stephens' work, it's a tragedy about a man incapable of empathising with other people . . . a portrait of one man's Icarus-like mental plummet, so far and so fast and so flashy as to be as exhilarating as it is sad.
Time Out London
Stephens nails the mix of lascivious bully and childlike innocent in a man living beyond boundaries . . . Stephens can certainly craft a line . . .
The Times
One of Simon Stephens' strength as a playwright is his ability to create amoral ogres who are charismatic and compelling but not remotely likeable.
Financial Times
. . . even if the message is familiar, the writing takes you inside the scrabbled brain of Birdland's damaged hero . . . his play's strength lies in its ambivalence towards its main character: Paul may behave like a latter-day Nero, but he shows signs of a redemptive intelligence and is acutely aware of the loss of identity that comes from being constantly in the public gaze. Without exculpating Paul, Stephens shows the invasive pressures that come with stardom.
Guardian
. . . the extraordinary quality of his sharp writing . . . nails Paul's near schizophrenic contradictions, his tactlessness, his intelligence . . .
Mail on Sunday