Stephen Brown (playwright)
{{Short description|British playwright}}
{{For|similarly named people|Steve Brown (disambiguation)}}
Stephen Brown is best known as a playwright, but has also been a publisher and writer.
Life and career
Brown was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and the University of Sussex.
He was the publisher of Prospect magazine, and has reviewed theatre for Radio 4's Front Row, the Times Literary Supplement and others.{{cite web|url=http://unitedagents.co.uk/stephen-brown |title=Stephen Brown |publisher=United Agents |access-date=2012-06-17}}
In 2003, he wrote the script for Filter Theatre's Faster, based on the James Gleick book of the same name. After running at the Battersea Arts Centre and Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, this production toured nationally and internationally.{{cite web|url=http://www.filtertheatre.com/?page_id=31 |title=Home |publisher=Filter Theatre |access-date=2012-06-17}}{{cite web |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-4245163-a-modern-production.do |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505082807/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-4245163-a-modern-production.do |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-05-05 |title=A modern production – Theatre & Dance – Arts – Evening Standard |publisher=Thisislondon.co.uk |date=2003-04-08 |access-date=2012-06-17 }}
In 2007, his play Future Me, which dramatised the prison treatment of a successful lawyer convicted of sex offences, was produced at Theatre503 in Battersea. It was subsequently produced in Berkeley and New York, and toured England with Coronation Street's Rupert Hill.{{cite web|author=Alistair Smith |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/17282/future-me |work=The Stage |title=Reviews – Future Me |publisher=Thestage.co.uk |date=2007-06-27 |access-date=2012-06-17}}{{cite news|author=Sadie Gray Last updated at 7:53PM, June 16, 2012 |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6018150.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616102847/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article6018150.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 16, 2011 |title=The Times |access-date=2012-06-17 |location=London}}{{cite news|author=Lyn Gardner |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/jun/27/theatre |title=Theatre review: Future Me / Theatre 503, London | Stage |work=The Guardian |date= 2007-06-27|access-date=2012-06-17}}
He was subsequently commissioned by the Royal National Theatre to write a play about René Descartes, and to adapt Occupational Hazards, Rory Stewart's memoir of his experiences as a senior coalition official in Iraq.{{cite web|url=http://unitedagents.co.uk/stephen-brown |title=Stephen Brown |publisher=United Agents |access-date=2012-06-17}} This latter work was produced at the Hampstead Theatre in May 2017.{{cite news|last1=Billington|first1=Michael|title=Occupational Hazards review – headlong rush through Rory Stewart's Iraq memoir|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/may/09/occupational-hazards-review-rory-stewart-iraq-memoir|access-date=12 May 2017|work=The Guardian|date=9 May 2017}}
In summer 2020, the Bristol Old Vic was scheduled to premiere his new play, Dr Semmelweis, modelled on the Hungarian physician, written with and starring Mark Rylance. The premiere was postponed due to COVID-19.{{Cite web|last=Ltd|first=Supercool|date=2020-06-15|title=Semmelweis|url=https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/semmelweis|access-date=2020-06-16|website=Bristol Old Vic|language=en}} It was eventually premiered in January 2022 and scheduled to run until February 5. After selling out and receiving positive reviews, its run was extended to 19 February.{{Cite web|url=https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/dr-semmelweis#overview|title=Dr Semmelweis|date=23 April 2022}} A West End run of Dr Semmelweis opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre in June 2023, again to critical acclaim with Mark Rylance in the title role.
Books
- Future Me (Oberon, 2007)
- Occupational Hazards (Oberon, 2017)
References
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Category:British dramatists and playwrights
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex