Punk Rock

Edgy and acute, Punk Rock is a slow-building story of violence at school, told with compelling depth and tension. The play introduces us to seven high-achieving teenagers at a fee- paying grammar school. They are holed up in the Upper School library, tucked away from supervision, revising – or not, as the case may be – for their mock A-Levels.

William, a bridge Oxbridge-hopeful, falls for the enigmatic new girl Lilly, but she's falling for someone else. Watched by his girlfriend Cissy, Bennett bullies unconfident Tanya and the awkward prodigy Chadwick.

It is a recognisable stew of rivalries, desires and confusions, each character's uncertainties carefully drawn. But as exam pressure builds, anxiety flares up into aggression, revealling a raw undercurrent of panic and hostility.