Punk Rock

Simon Stephens´ new play, published to coincide with its world premiere at the Lyric Hammersmith and The Royal Exchange, Manchester. Based on his experience as a teacher, Stephens describes his play as ´The History Boys on crack´. It explores the underlying tensions and potential violence in a group of affluent, articulate seventeen year old students. Contemporary and unnerving, with elements of The Catcher in the Rye, "Punk Rock" follows the story of seven sixth-formers as they face up to the pressures of teenage life, while preparing for their mock A-levels and trying to get into Oxbridge. They are a group of educated, intelligent and aspirational young people but step-by-step, the dislocation, disjunction and latent violence simmering under the surface of success is revealed.