Stephen Plaice (born 9 September 1951) is a UK-based dramatist and scriptwriter who has written extensively for theatre, opera and television. In 2014 he was appointed Writer in Residence at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. He became Professor of Dramatic Writing at the school in 2018. His historical novel, set in the Middle Ages, 'The Hardham Divine' was published by Parvenu Press in 2021.

Early career

Stephen Plaice was born in Watford UK in 1951 and attended

Watford Grammar School for Boys Go Forward with Preparation , established = 1884 ( Single-sex) , type = partially selective academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Ian A. Cooksey , r_head_label = , ...

. He went on to study German and Comparative Literature at the Universities of Sussex, Marburg and Zurich. An extensive account of his student days in Germany was given in ''The Romantic Road'', a series of five programmes broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in 2009 and repeated in 2016. He was co-translator of Ernst Bloch's ''The Principle of Hope'' (Blackwell 1986) and of Bloch's ''Heritage of our Time'' (Blackwell 1991). In the 1980s, with the poet Sean O'Brien, he was co-founder of the literary magazine ''The Printer's Devil''.

Playwright

Plaice began his playwriting career as a translator of German plays at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

in the 1970s. In the 1980s he formed his own theatre companies, the short-lived Thumbscrew Theatre, and then Alarmist Theatre with the theatre director Helena Uren, now known as Helena Bell. Alarmist produced many of Plaice's plays and adaptations including his version of Vladimir Mayakovsky's ''The Bedbug'' which, with the help of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, was taken to Moscow by the company in 1990, one of the first British productions to be performed under perestroika. Later in the Nineties, Plaice worked frequently with Shaker Productions, a theatre company based at the

Hawth Theatre The Hawth Theatre is an arts and entertainment complex located in of woodland about from the town centre of the English town of Crawley. It is wholly owned by Crawley Borough Council and is currently operated by Parkwood Theatres. History The ...

in Crawley, run by Alison Edgar. Edgar's 1993 production of ''Trunks'', Plaice's play about the Brighton Trunk Murders of 1934, was a critical success. and transferred to Battersea Arts Centre and to the Lyric Theatre Studio Hammersmith before going on to tour nationally. It was successfully revived in expanded form in the Paganini Ballroom, Barcelo Brighton Old Ship Hotel, in 2008. His short play ''The Last Post'' originally produced by Shaker was made into a film by Sarah Radclyffe Productions in 1995 and nominated for a BAFTA. The film was directed by

Ed Blum Ed Blum is the director and producer of ''Scenes of a Sexual Nature'' (2006), a low budget British movie starring Ewan McGregor and Sophie Okonedo, filmed entirely on Hampstead Heath. This was his first full-length feature and as Blum said, was m ...

. From 1987 Plaice was Writer-in-Residence at Lewes Prison, where he did the research for ''Trunks'', and also for ''Prometheus Unlocked'', a play about a prison arsonist. It was also here that his association with

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

began, after he invited a team from the Education Department to run annual workshops in the prison. In 1994, after seven years, Plaice left the prison residency and began writing scripts for ITV's ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'', scripting more than twenty episodes. Plaice has also worked extensively with the Education Department of the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

, most notably in 2004 with inmates in

Plötzensee Prison Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...

in Berlin on a project entitled ''Seven Doors'', based on Bartók's ''Bluebeard's Castle''. After working in opera for most of the decade, in 2008 Plaice returned to straight drama and wrote ''Nemesis'', a play which documented the extraordinary marriage between

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Ada Galsworthy Ada Nemesis Galsworthy (20 November 1864 – 29 May 1956) was an English editor, translator, writer and composer. She was married to Nobel Laureate for Literature John Galsworthy. Family and early life Ada Nemesis Pearson was born on 20 Novem ...

. John had been a visitor to Lewes Prison in the early 1900s. The play was given a rehearsed reading at the

Minerva Theatre, Chichester The Minerva Theatre is a studio theatre seating, at full capacity, 310. It is run as part of the adjacent Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, and was opened in 1989.Watford Palace Theatre Watford Palace Theatre, opened in 1908, is an Edwardian Grade II listed building in Watford, Hertfordshire. The 600-seat theatre on Clarendon Road was refurbished in 2004. It houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, cafe and bar. History The ...

in 2009. In 2012 he wrote ''Wyatt'', a three-hander about

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

and the Tudor poet Thomas Wyatt. This was followed by ''The Branch'', about the British Education Branch's role in the denazification of post-war Germany. To date, none of these plays has been produced. ''The White Cat'', an hour-long play for GCSE drama students, was first performed by Peacehaven Community School in 2014. Its subject is the Dallington witch scare in early 17th century Sussex. In 2014 Plaice wrote and directed ''The Gospel According to Lilian'', about the visitation of Anglican nuns by the spirit of Mary Magdalene in the 1950s. This was produced as part of the Church of the Annunciation Festival in Brighton. In 2018, Plaice wrote '' Carriages at Midnight'', a three-hander exploring the relationship between Robert and Clara

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

. This has not yet been produced.

Opera

In 1996 the Glyndebourne opera company produced the first of Plaice's librettos, the children's opera ''Misper'', written with the composer

John Lunn John Lunn (born 13 May 1956) is an Emmy Award winning Scottish composer, known for the music of the series ''Downton Abbey'' and many other television and movie soundtracks. Early life and education Lunn was born in May 1956. His father was a ...

. There were further collaborations with Lunn for the youth opera, ''Zoë'' in 2000 (made into a film for Channel 4 later that same year, directed by Theresa Griffith) and ''Tangier Tattoo'' in 2005, both produced at Glyndebourne. These operas were all directed by Stephen Langridge with whom Plaice has enjoyed a long working relationship. Richard Morrison of ''The Times'' (London) wrote that the creative team 'virtually redefined the genre with their splendidly feisty ''Misper'' at Glyndebourne.... ''Zoe'' by the same team is a giant leap forward again'. However, ''Tangier Tattoo'', an opera set against a background of jihadist kif-smuggling in Morocco, and ostensibly created for a target audience of 20- to 30-year-olds, was less favourably received by the critics. In 2012 Glyndebourne Education produced ''Lovers Walk'', a chamber opera composed by Luke Styles to a libretto by Plaice. This was followed by the main stage community opera ''Imago'', composed by

Orlando Gough Orlando Gough ( ; born 1953 in Brighton, Sussex) is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh ...

to another Plaice libretto. The latter was widely acclaimed, with Antony Craig of ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' describing it as 'an operatic love story for our digital age'. It went on to win the

Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards The Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards are given annually for live classical music-making in the United Kingdom. The awards were first held in 1989 and are independent of any commercial interest. Since 2003, BBC Radio 3 has been the media ...

for Learning and Participation for 2013, the second time one of Plaice's operas has won the RPS education award, the first being for Confucius Says with Hackney Music Development Trust in 2008 (see below). Plaice's first collaboration with

Sir Harrison Birtwistle Sir Harrison Birtwistle (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of contemporary classical music best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects. Among his List of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle, many compo ...

came in 2003. It was the chamber opera '' The Io Passion'', which was also directed by Langridge and which opened the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

and toured to Bregenz later in the year. ''The Independent on Sunday'' praised "Stephen Plaice's beautifully organised libretto". Plaice also wrote the text for Birtwistle's carol ''The Gleam'' for the choir of Kings College Cambridge for The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 2003. The libretto for Birtwistle's dramatic oratorio ''Angel Fighter'' was written by Plaice in 2010. It premiered in the

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at the

Bachfest Leipzig The Bachfest Leipzig (Leipzig Bach Festival) is a music festival which takes place annually, in the month of June, in the city of Leipzig, where J. S. Bach worked as the Thomaskantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. The current artistic directo ...

( de) to positive reviews: "a major work, one which points to a new direction for sacred music.....Birtwistle transforms the text, which Stephen Plaice has created for him in simple, magnificent, vivid sentences of Lutheran vehemence, into a seven-part arch form, a dramatic cantata, a compact oratorio". The UK premiere of this work took place on 20 August 2011 as a part of th
BBC Proms
''Paint Me'' a chamber opera with the Portuguese composer Luis Tinoco was premiered in Lisbon in 2010, a Teatro Nacional de São Carlos / Culturgest co-production. In 2006, Plaice scripted a hip-hop adaptation of Mozart's ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'' for Glyndebourne under the title of ''School4Lovers''. This production toured to the

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...

in Helsinki and to the

Estonia Theatre Estonia Theatre is an historic building in Tallinn, Estonia, which houses the Estonian National Opera and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. The original Jugendstil building was designed by Finnish architects Armas Lindgren and Wivi L� ...

in Tallinn.

's ''

The Finnish Prisoner ''The Finnish Prisoner'' is an opera by Orlando Gough set to an English-language libretto written by Stephen Plaice who based it on the true story of Finnish prisoners of war incarcerated in England during the Åland War, part of the Crimean War ...

'' was set to Plaice's libretto in 2007. A co-production between Finnish National Opera and the Lewes-based company, The Paddock, the subject matter was the incarceration of Finnish prisoners in the now demolished Naval Prison at Lewes during the Crimean War. The opera was directed by Susannah Waters. Along with the composer Richard Taylor, Plaice wrote the children's opera ''Confucius Says'' in 2008 for Hackney Music Development Trust. This won the

for Education in that year. He collaborated again with Taylor on ''Ludd and Isis'', a community opera commissioned for the opening of the new

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

Production Park in Thurrock in late 2010. ''Hot House'', an opera about the Covent Garden Theatre's Old Price Riots of 1809 with music by

Julian Grant Julian Grant (born 3 October 1960) is an English-born classical composer best known for a series of operas. He is also known for chamber music works and his challenging children's music. He is active as composer, journalist, broadcaster and mus ...

, was commissioned by the Education Department of the

as part of the Cultural Olympics and premiered on the main stage in July 2012. Plaice's opera-theatre piece ''In & Out of Love'', a sequence of opera duets embedded into a narrative about two singers and starring Marcia Bellamy and Red Gray, toured the South East of England in the spring of 2013 and also in 2014 in an expanded version. This RedBlonde production was followed in 2015 by ''Bouffe'', again featuring Bellamy and Gray, together with Lila Palmer and John Grave. This told the story of the diva Hortense Schneider's rise to prominence in Offenbach's Bouffes Parisiens. This was successfully revived in the Brighton Festival in 2016. In 2016, Plaice was commissioned by the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

and Drama to create a new operatic adaptation of

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

's ''

The Merchant's Tale "The Merchant's Tale" ( enm, The Marchantes Tale) is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. In it Chaucer subtly mocks antifeminist literature like that of Theophrastus ("Theofraste"). The tale also shows the influence of Boccaccio ( ...

'' with composer

Julian Philips Julian Philips is a British composer. Philips' works have been performed at major music festivals, including The Proms, Tanglewood, Three Choirs Festival, at the Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Hall and by ...

. Plaice developed his libretto for this new opera, ''The Tale of Januarie'', in Chaucerian

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

and the opera was premiered to wide acclaim in spring 2017. Also in 2017, with the composer Jamie Mann, Plaice created ''Counting Sheep'', one of the ten Snappy Operas that Mahagonny Opera Group produced in designated schools throughout the UK. In 2018, for Surrey Arts, with the composer Joanna Lee, Plaice wrote ''No Sound Ever Dies'', a sonic suite that explores the glamorous era of the

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

racing circuit. With Orlando Gough, Plaice has written a new 'state of the nation' community opera for

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

and

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

with Barefoot Opera, entitled ''Bloom Britannia'. ''This received a successful platform performance at the De La Warr Pavilion in April 2019. The full version was staged at St Mary's in the Castle in October 2021. A new opera '' Raising Icarus'' created with the composer Michael Zev Gordon was premièred at the Birmingham Rep in April 2022. Andrew Clements in the Guardian declared it to be 'a high-flying chamber opera that packs a punch'. In 2019/20 a new children's 'post truth' opera ''Henny Penny'', music by Julian Philips, was developed to tour schools in Islington, as part of an OWRI/AHRC initiative to promote the teaching of foreign languages. As a result of Covid, it has been adapted as an animation by Positivenote, so that it can be used as a classroom teaching aid outside the workshop context. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Plaice was rapidly commissioned by Glyndebourne to adapt Jacques Offenbach's opera buffa ''Mesdames de la Halle'' for performance in the gardens at the Sussex opera house. The new version is entitled ''In the Market for Love'' or ''Onions are Forever''. The vocal setting of the operetta was made by Marcia Bellamy. The production, directed by Stephen Langridge and starring Danielle de Niese, Allan Clayton, Matthew Rose, Kate Lindsey, Nicky Spence, Brendan Gunnell and Michael Wallace, opened to great acclaim on 12th August 2020. It was brought into the main theatre in October 2020 and was given another eight performances.

Music Theatre

Plaice has also written extensively for music theatre. He collaborated with

Yusuf Islam Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later i ...

on the early drafts of ''Moonshadow'', the

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...

musical, and took over the book of ''Daddy Cool'', the

Frank Farian Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther; 18 July 1941) is a German record producer, musician, singer and songwriter, who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created vo ...

musical, starring

Michelle Collins Michelle Danielle Collins (born 28 May 1962) is an English actress and TV presenter, best known for her roles in the British soap operas ''EastEnders'' and ''Coronation Street''. Collins played Cindy Beale in the BBC soap ''EastEnders'' from ...

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

and Javine, which was staged at the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

in 2006 before transferring to a purpose-built Theaterpalast in Berlin the following year. In 2009, with the composer Richard Taylor, he adapted

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'' for

the Castle Theatre, Wellingborough Castle Theatre Wellingborough is located in the town of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The ...

, and this was followed at the Castle in 2010 with a musical adaptation of ''Robin Hood'', with the composer Grant Olding. Plaice is currently collaborating with the writer Zoe Palmer to create a musical about Will Marion Cook, the first composer to bring black musicals to Broadway. This is provisionally entitled 'Darktown is Out Tonight'. This is in development at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 'String', a community opera for Hailsham, book and lyrics by Stephen, music by Tony Biggin, was premiered in a show case production in the Hailsham Festival in September 2021. It was narrated by the poet Roger McGough. It returned to the town in October 2022, with John Bowler as the narrator, for three further performances.

List of Works

Plays

* 1986: Young Faust * 1987: Leonce and Lena (adaptation) * 1987: Prometheus Unlocked * 1990: The Bedbug (adaptation) * 1993: Trunks * 1995: Home Truths * 1995: The Last Post * 1996: The Shortlist * 1997: The Milk Train * 2008: Nemesis * 2009: Mick and Me * 2012: Wyatt * 2012: The Branch * 2014: The White Cat * 2014: The Gospel According to Lilian * 2018: Carriages at Midnight

Libretti

* 1996: Misper * 2000: Zöe * 2004: The Io Passion * 2005: Tangier Tattoo * 2006: School4Lovers * 2007: The Finnish Prisoner * 2008: Confucius Says * 2010: Angel Fighter * 2010: The Moon on A Stick * 2010: Ludd and Isis * 2010: Paint Me * 2012: Hot House * 2012: Lovers Walk * 2013: Imago * 2016: The Tale of Januarie * 2017: Counting Sheep * 2018: No Sound Ever Dies

Musicals

* 1995: Race the Devil (Glyndebourne Education) * 2006: Daddy Cool (with Amani Napthali) * 2009: The Jungle Book (adaptation) * 2010: Robin Hood (adaptation) * 2021: String

Operetta

* 2013: In and Out of Love ''In and Out of Love''
on marciabellamy.co.uk * 2015: Bouffe * 2020: In the Market for Love (Onions are Forever)

Poetry

* 1983: Rumours of Cousins (Yorick Books) * 1992: Over the Rollers (Yorick Books) * 2016: The Fonthill Poets (edited with Martyn Ford) (Parvenu Press) * 2018: Those Under Saturn: Selected Poems

Fiction

● 2021:The Hardham Divine (Parvenu Press)

History

* 2014: The Real Presence (The Church of the Annunciation)

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plaice, Stephen British dramatists and playwrights Living people 1951 births People from Watford People educated at Watford Grammar School for Boys Alumni of the University of Sussex British opera librettists British male dramatists and playwrights