
Swallow
Stef Smith(Author)
Nick Hern Books (Publisher)
Published on 6. August 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-1-84842-506-4 (ISBN)
Description
'Who said smashing things up was a bad thing?'
Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. Balanced precariously on the tipping point, they might just be able to save one another - if they can only overcome their urge to self-destruct.
Passionate, painful and playful, Stef Smith's Swallow takes a long, hard look at the extremes of everyday life. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received a Scotsman Fringe First Award. It was directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O'Loughlin, and featured original music by LAWholt.
Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. Balanced precariously on the tipping point, they might just be able to save one another - if they can only overcome their urge to self-destruct.
Passionate, painful and playful, Stef Smith's Swallow takes a long, hard look at the extremes of everyday life. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received a Scotsman Fringe First Award. It was directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O'Loughlin, and featured original music by LAWholt.
Reviews / Votes
'An elegant and glowing piece of 21st-century magic realism... [a] rich mix of drama and poetry, comedy and tragedy' * Scotsman * '[A] bloody great bruise of a play which borrows, magpie-like, from Sarah Kane but which is always distinctively itself. It has a shard-like lyricism that tears through the heart. It finds the comic in the tragic... a shattering 80 minutes' * Guardian * 'In a relatively short space of time Stef Smith has established herself as a remarkably diverse and elusive playwright... her most assured to date' * The Times * 'Dazzlingly deft... there are so many reasons to love this piece... a must-see' * Independent * 'Smith's script is dense with tense and memorable imagery... packed with powerful language' * The Stage *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
82 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84842-506-4 (9781848425064)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Stef Smith studied Drama and Theatre Arts at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She supplied the text for the critically acclaimed and sell out show RoadKill (Edinburgh Festival 2010, 2011) which won an Olivier Award in 2012.
Other plays include: Swallow (Traverse Theatre 2015), Remote (National Theatre Connections 2015), CURED (Glasgay!), Grey Matter (Aberdeen Performing Arts), Falling/Flying (The Tron, Glasgow), The Silence of Bees (The Arches) and a BBC Scotland radio drama entitled Tea and Symmetry.
She has also been on an invited residency at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, writer on attachment with the National Theatre of Scotland and was part of the National Writers Group at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
Other plays include: Swallow (Traverse Theatre 2015), Remote (National Theatre Connections 2015), CURED (Glasgay!), Grey Matter (Aberdeen Performing Arts), Falling/Flying (The Tron, Glasgow), The Silence of Bees (The Arches) and a BBC Scotland radio drama entitled Tea and Symmetry.
She has also been on an invited residency at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, writer on attachment with the National Theatre of Scotland and was part of the National Writers Group at the Royal Court Theatre in London.