Following the sell–out, critically acclaimed staging of Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money in 2011, Waking Exploits return with Simon Stephens’ beautiful yet chilling award winning play Pornography.
Directed by Mathilde López, Waking Exploits take to the road touring the length and breadth of Wales in April 2012.
One unforgettable week in July 2005.
Live 8, the G8 Conference, the 2012 Olympic announcement, and the 7/7 bombings.
Britain feels like the centre of the world. Major events are taking place all over the country and everyone is talking. There’s a buzz in the air as the sense of anticipation grows. The world’s eyes are focused on us, the energy is electric. The City, Britain, and its people are alive.
In less than one hour in Central London, everything will change…
Pornography is the hard hitting play by Simon Stephens that captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria and promise of Olympic dreams into the devastation of 7/7.
“A Play of true grace and terror” – Guardian
Pornography, written in response to the 7/7 London attacks, explores the intimate and entwining stories of British lives, including the lonely journey of a man heading towards oblivion on the London Underground.
Seven years on, Pornography becomes all the more relevant in the year that the London 2012 Olympics finally arrive in the UK.
“I was haunted by what the bombers were going through on that final day. It struck me that at the heart of their action was an alienation from the people they were going to kill and from themselves. This seemed to be symptomatic of a consumerist culture, which objectifies everyone and everything.
And objectification also sits under the production and consumption of pornography. I think we’re living in pornographic times.” – Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens has, in recent years, become one of the most celebrated writers in British theatre and this is set to be the first major professional staging of his work in Wales.
Simon Stephens – Writer
Simon is an award-winning playwright whose work includes: Bluebird (Royal Court, 1998); Herons (Royal Court, 2001); Port (Manchester Royal Exchange, 2002 - Pearson Award for Best New Play); Country Music (Royal Court, 2004); On The Shore Of The Wide World (Manchester Royal Exchange / National Theatre, 2005 - Olivier Award for Best New Play); MOTORTOWN (Royal Court, 2006); HARPER REGAN (National Theatre, 2008); Sea Wall (Bush Theatre / Traverse Theatre, 2008-2009); Pornography (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hanover, 2007, Edinburgh Festival / Birmingham Rep, 2008 and Tricycle Theatre, 2009); Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith / Manchester Royal Exchange, 2009) The Trial Of Ubu (Schauspielhaus, Essen / Toneelgroep Amsterdam, 2010), A Thousand Stars Explode In The Sky written in collaboration with David Eldridge and Robert Holman (Lyric Hammersmith, 2010) Marine Parade , a play with songs written by Mark Eitzel (Brighton Festival, 2010); T5 (Traverse Theatre, 2010); Wastwater (Royal Court Theatre, 2011) and an adaptation of Jon Fosse’s I Am The Wind (Young Vic Theatre, 2011). The Trial Of Ubu will make it’s UK premier at the Hampstead Theatre in January 2012 and his new play Three Kingdoms which has already had a run at the NO99 Theatre in Estonia and the Munich Playhouse, Germany will make it’s UK premier at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith next spring. Simon is currently under commission to the National Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange and the Young Vic. TV includes an adaptation of Pornography for Coming Up (Channel 4, 2009) and Dive (Granada / BBC, 2009).
Mathilde López - Director
Mathilde trained at Central Saint Martins in Performance Design, has a masters in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College and was a founding member of National Theatre Wales.
Directing credits include: Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy by Witold Gombrovitzc, Hoxton Hall, Hotel Europa (La Suspension du Plongeur); Prometheus Bound (Cochrane Theatre and Hoxton Hall); Cien años (London and Prague); Crosswired (East London Dance/Barbican Centre.
She also worked as an assistant director, director and literary manager for Theatre Royal Stratford East, freelanced for ITV, BBC and BBC Wales as production designer and worked with Carl Fillion on La Celestina, 1984 and The Elegant Universe directed by Robert Lepage and produced by Ex Machina.
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