Pornography in Bath

02 September 2009

Simon Stephens' play, Pornography, appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from September 7-12 after its London premiere at the Tricycle Theatre.

The most talked about production at last year's Edinburgh Festival, this extraordinary drama won the Best New Play Award in the 2009 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland.

On July 2005 at 12.46pm UK time, Jacques Rogge stood in front of the International Olympic Committee General Assembly in Singapore and announced: 'the games of the thirtieth Olympiad in 2012 are awarded to the city of...London.' The announcement was greeted with delight by the London delegation in Singapore, the 30,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square and at events all over the country.

The following morning, July 7, now forever after to be known as 7/7, four suicide bombers attacked London's public transport system, leaving 52 dead and 700 injured.

Set during one week in July 2005, Simon Stephens' stark and shattering new play captures Britain as it crashes from the buzz of Live 8 and the euphoria and promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of 7/7. Six short stories interweave, each telling a story of transgression.

A bigoted schoolboy has dangerous fantasies about his teacher, a brother and sister get too close for comfort, a divorced professor invites a former student home, a disaffected office worker finds the pressure she is under too much to bear, and a lonely old lady is left to muse wryly on the state of society. Meanwhile a young man makes a final journey to London from Leeds.

The title Pornography alludes to a de-personalised state of mind, to a way of coping with big-city life. Whilst the play is entirely un-pornographic, it does contain adult scenes.

Tickets, priced £14-30 with concessions, are available by calling 01225 448844 or online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk