Punk Rock

William Carlisle has the world at his feet but its weight on his shoulders. He is intelligent, articulate and f***ed.In the library of a grammar school, William and his fellow Sixth-Formers are preparing for their mock A-Levels while navigating the pressures of teenage life. They are educated and aspirational young people but step-by-step, the dislocation, disjunction and latent aggression is revealed.Punk Rock premiered at the Lyric Hammersmith on 3 September 2009 in a co-production between the Lyric Hammersmith and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.
Based on the playwright's experience as a teacher, this play explores the underlying tensions and potential violence in a group of affluent, articulate seventeen year old students. Contemporary and unnerving the story explores the pressures of teenage life as as group of educated, intelligent young people begin to plan for college and the rest of their lives with the step-by-step, dislocated, latent violence simmering under the surface of success revealed.