Punk Rock is a play by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 Simon Stephens

Simon Stephens

Simon Stephens is an English playwright.Hailing originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, he is now an increasingly significant voice in English theatre. His plays are often humane explorations of family life...

 which premiered at the Royal Exchange

Royal Exchange, Manchester

The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed Victorian building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann’s Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street...

 in 2009 and transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith directed by Sarah Frankcom. The play concerns a group of public school

Independent school

An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...

 sixth formers during their A Level mocks exams.

Plot

In the library of a grammar school, seven sixth-formers are preparing for their mock-A Levels and nearing the end of their school lives. Soon Manchester will be a thing of the past, soon there will be new friends and new enemies. When the whole world opens up before you, there’s a danger it’ll swallow you up, there’s danger all around

Characters

Character	Original Cast, 2009
William Carlisle	Tom Sturridge Tom Sturridge Thomas Sidney Jerome "Tom" Sturridge is an English actor best known for his work in Being Julia, Like Minds, and The Boat That Rocked. As of September 2010, he was filming a role in Walter Salles's highly anticipated film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.-Personal life:Sturridge was born...
Bennett Francis	Joe Sweet
Chadwick Meade	Harry McEntire
Lily Cahill	Jessica Raine
Sissy Franks	Sophie Wu
Nicholas Chatman	Nicholas Banks
Tanya Gleason	Katie West
Lucy Francis	Emma Warbuton
Dr Richard Harvey	Simon Wolfe

Reception

The premiere received generally positive reviews with Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

 saying "confirms Simon Stephens as one of the most important and exciting British playwrights working today". The play has also been nominated for the 2010 TMA

TMA Awards

The TMA Awards, established in 1991, are presented annually by the Theatrical Management Association in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in United Kingdom theatres...

Best New Play award.

External links

• Punk Rock Interactive Site
• http://www.royalexchangetheatre.org.uk/event.aspx?id=180