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Stephen Lowe (playwright)
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<h2 id="early-life">Early life</h2> <p>Lowe was born Stephen James Wright in <a href="/facts/Sneinton/SfyCjkWE">Sneinton</a>, <a href="/facts/Nottingham/7NmKsSUg">Nottingham</a>, where his father was a labourer and his mother was a machinist in Nottingham's <a href="/facts/Lace_Market/EgcDElR1">Lace Market</a>. He graduated from <a href="/facts/Birmingham_University/b2YEFk2X">Birmingham University</a> in English and Theatre Studies. </p><p>After university, Lowe worked in various jobs while writing, including part-time lecturer, clerk, hospital receptionist, newspaper distributor, advertising manager, housepainter, barman and civil servant. While working as a part-time shepherd in the <a href="/facts/Yorkshire_Dales/KrXWttF9">Yorkshire Dales</a>, he was commissioned by <a href="/facts/Alan_Ayckbourn/jJLyK3JN">Alan Ayckbourn</a> to write a comedy double-bill, <i>Comic Pictures</i>, and joined his <a href="/facts/Stephen_Joseph_Theatre/22EjGarg">Scarborough Theatre in the Round</a> company as an actor and writer. Ayckbourn produced <i>Comic Pictures</i> in 1976. </p><p>Lowe took his mother's maiden name as a professional identity in 1976, when he joined Ayckbourn's company.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="peace-plays">Peace plays</h2> <p>In the 1980s, Lowe edited two anthologies of peace plays for Methuen. The first volume was of plays by British playwrights, including <a href="/facts/Deborah_Levy/QdrANB25">Deborah Levy</a>, <a href="/facts/Adrian_Mitchell/7ouhlQQR">Adrian Mitchell</a>, and Lowe himself (Keeping Body and Soul Together). It was published in 1985 during a period of increased tension towards the end of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>, and Lowe's introduction quoted from <a href="/facts/Gabriel_Garc%25C3%25ADa_M%25C3%25A1rquez/FpyFsILa">Gabriel Garcia Marquez's</a> <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Literature/wWVXbIbp">Nobel</a> acceptance speech, "we, the inventors of tales, who will believe anything, feel entitled to believe that it is not yet too late to engage in the creation of a utopia of a very different kind."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> The second volume, published in 1990, came out of the new era of <a href="/facts/Glasnost/Pp0T5LG2">glasnost</a> and a thaw in relations between the two <a href="/facts/Superpower/JNNkrRLt">superpowers</a>. For this volume Lowe selected plays by two American playwrights, <a href="/facts/Arthur_Kopit/eLH8R6mK">Arthur Kopit</a> and Richard Stayton; and by two Russian playwrights, Fyodor Burlatsky, a former adviser to <a href="/facts/Nikita_Khrushchev/SBySdWPf">Khrushchev</a> and <a href="/facts/Mikhail_Gorbachev/tKxQRaeP">Gorbachev</a>, and <a href="/facts/Mikhail_Bulgakov/mpNVaTqJ">Mikhail Bulgakov</a>. </p> <h2 id="works">Works</h2> <h3>Plays</h3> <ul><li><i>Cards</i>, Act Inn Theatre, London (1973)</li> <li><i>Comic Pictures (Stars and Cards)</i>, Scarborough Theatre-in-the-Round (1976)</li> <li><i>Shooting Fishing and Riding</i>, Scarborough Theatre-in-the-Round (1977)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Touched_(play)/n0oRr35n"><i>Touched</i></a>, Nottingham Playhouse (1977); Royal Court (1981)</li> <li><i>Sally Ann Hallelujah Band</i>, Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Roundabout (1978)</li> <li><a href="/facts/The_Ragged_Trousered_Philanthropists_(play)/jSJ6XRQE"><i>The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists</i></a>, Joint Stock (1978)</li> <li><i>Glasshouses</i>, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs (1981); (later retitled:) <i>Moving Pictures</i>, Leeds Playhouse</li> <li><i>Tibetan Inroads</i>, Royal Court (1981)</li> <li><i>The Trial of Frankenstein</i>, Plymouth Theatre Royal (1982)</li> <li><i>Strive</i>, Sheffield Crucible Studio (1983)</li> <li><i>Seachange</i>, Riverside Studios (1984)</li> <li><i>Keeping Body and Soul Together</i>, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs (1984)</li> <li><a href="/facts/The_Storm_(Ostrovsky)/EwJB8KHc"><i>The Storm</i></a> (adaptation, from <a href="/facts/Alexander_Ostrovsky/vWHS9YQH">Ostrovsky</a>), RSC Barbican The Pit (1985)</li> <li><i>Desire</i>, Meeting Ground Theatre national tour (1986)</li> <li><i>Demon Lovers</i>, Meeting Ground Theatre national tour (1987)</li> <li><a href="/facts/William_Tell_(play)/hetcEklf"><i>William Tell</i></a> (adaptation, from <a href="/facts/Schiller/HsE8cdHw">Schiller</a>), Sheffield Crucible (1987)</li> <li><i>Divine Gossip</i>, RSC Barbican The Pit (1988)</li> <li><i>Paradise</i>, Nottingham Playhouse (1990)</li> <li><i>The Alchemical Wedding</i>, Salisbury Playhouse (1998)</li> <li><i>Revelations</i>, Hampstead Theatre (2003)</li> <li><i>It's Not Personal</i>, Nottingham Playhouse (2004)</li> <li><i>Old Big 'Ead in The Spirit of the Man</i>, Nottingham Playhouse and national tour (2005-6)</li> <li><i>The Fox and the Little Vixen</i>, Tangere Arts tour (2005)</li> <li><i>The Devil's League</i>, in rehearsal at Derby Playhouse when theatre went into receivership; not yet produced (2008)</li> <li><i>Smile</i>, Lakeside Arts Nottingham (2008)</li> <li><i>Glamour</i>, Nottingham Playhouse (2009)</li> <li><i>Empty Bed Blues</i>, Lakeside Arts Nottingham (2009)</li> <li><i>Seance on a Sunday Afternoon</i>, Lakeside Arts Nottingham (2011)</li> <li><i>Just a Gigolo</i>, Edinburgh Festival and Lakeside Arts Nottingham (2012)</li> <li><i>Altitude Sickness</i>, rehearsed reading, Lakeside Arts Nottingham (2016)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li></ul> <h3>Screenplays</h3> <ul><li><i>Cries From A Watchtower</i>, BBC TV Play for Today (1979) Producer <a href="/facts/Richard_Eyre/Qzt5nNR9">Richard Eyre</a>. - A small-time watchmaker is hit by the new silicon chip technology.</li> <li><i>Fred Karno's Bloody Circus</i>, rehearsed reading by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre (1979); part of <i>Plays that Television Would Not Do</i> series.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li> <li><i>Shades</i>, BBC 2 60 minutes as part of PLAYS FOR TOMORROW series (1981). - The youth of 2001 re-connect with 80's Peace Protestors. Starring <a href="/facts/Neil_Pearson/gKp0KXUr">Neil Pearson</a>.</li> <li><i>Unstable Elements</i>, Film NewsReel/ Channel 4. (1983)</li> <li><i>Kisses on the Bottom</i>, BBC 2 (1984). - A comedy in which the characters of <a href="/facts/Donald_McGill/pkTYN7xM">Donald McGill</a> sea-side postcards come alive (adapted from Lowe's play <i>Cards</i>).</li> <li><i>Tell Tale Hearts</i>, Three part thriller BBC Scotland (1990) Starring <a href="/facts/Emma_Fielding/M1ldJeYk">Emma Fielding</a>, Bill Patterson. Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan. - Investigations of a serial child murderer expose hidden fears in all involved.</li> <li><i>Ice Dance</i>, BBC 1 (1990). Director <a href="/facts/Alan_Dossor/Bg5HILWJ">Alan Dossor</a>. Starring <a href="/facts/Warren_Clarke/RtVUCLkf">Warren Clarke</a>. Producer Mike Wearing. - Two young Nottingham kids try to emulate <a href="/facts/Torvill_and_Dean/2eUot6PK">Torvill and Dean</a>.</li> <li><i>Flea Bites</i>, BBC 1 (1992). Director Alan Dossor. starring <a href="/facts/Nigel_Hawthorne/lUmuSwKx">Nigel Hawthorne</a>. Producer Mike Wearing. - A Survivor of the camps teaches a young boy the mystery of a flea-circus.</li> <li><i>Scarlet & Black</i>, BBC classical Four hour adaptation (1993). Director Ben Bolt. Starring <a href="/facts/Ewan_McGregor/wnUy38fs">Ewan McGregor</a> and <a href="/facts/Rachel_Weisz/syBUtkrd">Rachel Weisz</a>. Producer Mike Wearing. - <a href="/facts/Stendhal/vgRBY22t">Stendhal</a>'s masterpiece of young love & passion</li> <li><i>Greenstone</i>, ABC/ NZ TV. Eight-hour historical drama with Communicado, the <a href="/facts/New_Zealand/4mpSlJdg">New Zealand</a> producers of <a href="/facts/Once_Were_Warriors_(film)/51RxQ6ft">Once Were Warriors</a>. (1999). - The 'adventure' story of the first white settlers and the subsequent colonisation of the land.</li></ul> <h3>Directing</h3> <ul><li><i>Shooting Fishing and Riding</i>, Scarborough Theatre-in-the-Round (1977)</li> <li><i>Strive</i>, Meeting Ground Theatre national tour (1985)</li> <li><i>Desire</i>, Meeting Ground Theatre national tour (1986)</li> <li><i>Demon Lovers</i>, Meeting Ground Theatre national tour (1987)</li> <li><i>Inside Out of Mind</i> by Tanya Myers, Meeting Ground Theatre workshop presentation for Nottingham Institute of Mental Health (2011) <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="sources">Sources</h2> <ul><li><i>Faith, hope, and human decency</i>, interview with Lowe by John Cunningham; <i>The Guardian</i>, 19 Jan 1981; p9.</li> <li><i>Lowe, Stephen</i>, Who's Who 2011, A & C Black, 2011; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2010; online edn, Oct 2010.</li> <li><i>Moving Pictures</i>, Four Plays by Stephen Lowe. London, <a href="/facts/Methuen_Publishing/Uo4RmhfL">Methuen</a>, 1985.</li> <li><i>Old Big 'Ead in The Spirit of the Man</i>, by Stephen Lowe. London, Methuen, 2005.</li> <li>Work CV, <a href="http://www.stephen-lowe.co.uk">Stephen Lowe website</a></li> <li><i>Lowe, Stephen.</i> Entry by Dan Rebellato, in <i>Companion to 20th Century Theatre</i>, edited by Colin Chambers. Continuum International, 2002; p 457.</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231207011921/http://www.insideoutofmind.co.uk/">www.insideoutofmind.co.uk</a></li> <li><i>New play focuses on role of carers</i>, article from <a href="https://archive.today/20130505113141/http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/New-play-focuses-role-carers/story-13017452-detail/story.html/">Nottingham Evening Post website, 27 Jul 2011.</a></li> <li>Donohue, Walter (edited), <i>The Warehouse: A Writer's Theatre</i>. Theatre Papers no. 8, Dartington College of Arts, 1980.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://www.stephen-lowe.co.uk/">Stephen Lowe's website</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.methuen.co.uk/titles.php/itemcode/1078/">Methuen edition of Old Big 'Ead...</a>[<i>permanent dead link</i>]</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120117050913/http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/Press/Reviews.html">Press reviews of Smile and Empty Bed Blues onLakeside Arts Centre website</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231207011921/http://www.insideoutofmind.co.uk/">Inside Out of Mind website</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0523052/">Stephen Lowe</a> at <a href="/facts/IMDb_(identifier)/uWrqVYVy">IMDb</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"TOWNSEND THEATRE PRODUCTIONS ⎯ HOME". www.townsendproductions.org.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2020. <a href="http://www.townsendproductions.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.townsendproductions.org.uk/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Ashworth, Pat. "Touched review at Nottingham Playhouse". The Stage. Retrieved 5 April 2020. <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/touched-review-nottingham-playhouse/" target="_blank">https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/touched-review-nottingham-playhouse/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Lakeside Arts news web page Archived 11 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine <a href="http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/News.html/" target="_blank">http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/News.html/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"NET Citadis to be named Stephen Lowe". British Trams Online News. Retrieved 5 April 2020. <a href="http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/news/?p=11720" target="_blank">http://www.britishtramsonline.co.uk/news/?p=11720</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Moving Pictures, Four Plays by Stephen Lowe. London, Methuen, 1985. <a href="/wiki/Methuen_Publishing" target="_blank">/wiki/Methuen_Publishing</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Introduction to Peace Plays volume 1, edited by Stephen Lowe; Methuen, London, 1985; p vii <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Nottingham Lakeside Arts". Nottingham Lakeside Arts. Retrieved 5 April 2020. <a href="http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Donohue, 1980; pp 22, 34-35. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>http://www.insideoutofmind.co.uk [dead link] <a href="http://www.insideoutofmind.co.uk" target="_blank">http://www.insideoutofmind.co.uk</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>