Shelagh Stephenson is a Northumberland-born playwright. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1996 and subsequently transferred to the West End, where it won an Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2000. Her second play, An Experiment With An Air Pump, was joint recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award. She has written several radio plays, including the award-winning Five Kinds of Silence, which she adapted for the stage. Her screen adaptation of The Memory of Water was released in spring 2002 with the title Before You Go.

Shelagh Stephenson has written a play teeming with interest, humour, eloquence and, above all, ideas.

• Introductory interview with the author, by Jack McNamara An Experiment with an Air Pump, by Shelagh Stephenson

Shelagh Stephenson is a Northumberland-born playwright. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1996 and subsequently transferred to the West End, where it won an Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2000. Her second play, An Experiment With An Air Pump, was joint recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award. She has written several radio plays, including the award-winning Five Kinds of Silence, which she adapted for the stage. Her screen adaptation of The Memory of Water was released in spring 2002 with the title Before You Go.

Shelagh Stephenson has written a play teeming with interest, humour, eloquence and, above all, ideas.

• Introductory interview with the author, by Jack McNamara An Experiment with an Air Pump, by Shelagh Stephenson