Media Gallery
Production Photographs
Seating Plan
This play contains nudity, and language and graphic descriptions which may cause offence.
Running Time approximately 1 hour 45 minutes, with no interval.
- Director: Sean Holmes
- Designer: Paul Wills
- Lighting Designer: Chris Davey
- Sound Designer: Emma Laxton
Special Dates
- After Dark : Wed 17 September
- BSL Interpreted Performance : Thu 18 September
- Page to Stage : Fri 19 September
Audio
- Listen to this page
Useful Links
Interviews with the writer Simon Stephens in The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian
Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company and Traverse Theatre Company present
Pornography
Wed 3 Sep 2008 – Sat 20 Sep 2008
The Door
By Simon Stephens
Pornography has been nominated for a Best Ensemble award in The Stage Edinburgh Festival awards. The show has also sold out in Edinburgh
Don’t miss your only opportunity to see the show everyone’s talking about!
One week in July 2005. Live 8. G8. London 2012 Olympics. 7/7.
July 2005, Britain feels like the centre of the world. Big events are happening and everyone is talking about them. In schools, offices, streets, shops, parks and homes – there’s a buzz in the air. You can feel the sense of anticipation. The world’s eyes are focused on us and you can feel the energy and possibilities.
In less than an hour in Central London, everything will change…
Pornography is the stark and shattering new play by Simon Stephens that captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria and promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of 7/7.
Simon Stephens is one of Britain’s most acclaimed playwrights whose debut play Sleep Of The Just was produced at the Traverse in 1994. His previous work includes One Minute (ATC), Motortown (Royal Court) and On The Shores Of The Wide World (Royal Exchange Manchester) which won an Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2005.
Pornography is directed by Sean Holmes, whose recent work has included The Man Who Had All The Luck (Donmar), The Entertainer (Old Vic), The Caucasian Chalk Circle (National Theatre) and Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance (Oxford Stage Company).
This co-production will also play at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival.
It was originally commissioned and produced by Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg.
| Date | Time | Date information |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 3rd Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Thu 4th Sep 2008 | 19:00 | |
| Fri 5th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Sat 6th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Mon 8th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Tue 9th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Wed 10th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Thu 11th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Fri 12th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Sat 13th Sep 2008 | 14:45 | |
| Sat 13th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Mon 15th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Tue 16th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | |
| Wed 17th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | After Dark |
| Thu 18th Sep 2008 | 14:45 | |
| Thu 18th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | BSL Interpreted Performance |
| Fri 19th Sep 2008 | 19:45 | Page to Stage |
| Sat 20th Sep 2008 | 19:45 |
“London becomes a kind of hell in Simon Stephens’ extraordinary play…in Sean Holmes superb, beautifully acted production, the city becomes the stage itself.”
The Guardian
“[Simon] Stephens, who has already written the best play of the year (Harper Regan, at the National), has come up with another cracker – one that searches for new forms to say new things. He observes his characters with an almost forensic detachment and yet he makes us love them, too.”
The Guardian
“This is a play of grace and terror”
The Guardian
“The defining feature of that week was its constant turn for the unexpected – something that this play, impeccably directed by Sean Holmes, captures beautifully.”
Daily Telegraph
“…Sean Holmes’s excellent cast. Together, they remind you of a few days in which Londoners started by hooting their car horns after the city was awarded the 2012 Olympics and ended up bewildered, in mourning but perhaps not wholly unchanged.”
Daily Telegraph
“This is a state-of-the-nation play in the fullest sense.”
Metro
“Performed by an excellent ensemble cast *****”
Metro
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Comments
ian from london
are you coming to london?
Steph from The REP
Hi Ian There are currently no plans for Pornography to transfer to London - so catch it in Birmingham while you can!
David from UK
An excellent production- thought provoking, gritty, brilliantly performed, intelligently written: the kind of theatre that we don't see enough of (in the Midlands anyway). While the Door is a great space, it's a shame more people won't get to see this.
James from Birmingham
Extraordinary!
Greg from Stratford
Extraordinary play, a real experience. Congratulations to the cast and creative team for an exceptional night of theatre
Sam from Repton
One word... wow... this play was fantastic, the altering narritive was well thought and the "gritty bits" of each character came through brilliantly, i sincerely mean it when i say this play was superior to any play that actually made me stop and think.
Taylor from Blackpool.
WOW!! just read the play. i couldnt put it down. got it off amazon best £8.99 ive spent in a long time!
John from Birmingham
Oh my God, I can't believe it! Is that really *THE* Frances Ashman, the girl who killed, just killed, a lot of people with her beautiful music and singing in the film Nil By Mouth?! Sooo many people have been chasing her songs from that film as they were never widely available (I managed to grab 'Pandora' by 'France', as it was released on CD, from Virgin in Birmingham 10 years ago!) I gotta go see her in this play but I think it'll make me cry to actually see her! Love to you Frances from all the people around the world who you shook with your singing - please get someone to cut you a deal and get singing again for us, preferably with the NBM crew, the world deserves a NBM album! John