The Salt Wound by Stephen Greenhorn
"The Salt Wound ushers in not only the monumental sea but also an almost oppressive awareness of a close-knit fishing community with all its orthodoxies, traditions and celebrations. Greenhorn does a convincing job of taking the classical passions of Greek tragedy and transposing them to a modern setting. Everyone is right and wrong. No-one can do anything about it ... It holds an audience gripped."
The Herald
"Doom-laden pride by the dark seashore; hubris and guilt by the heavy netload; the entrapment of the ancient burden of mother-love. It hardly sounds like the work of a young, urban Scottish playwright; but, lo, it is. A powerful perception of individuals ostracised by the closed and pious community ... We witness real joy here, and real eye-smarting tragedy."
The Scotsman
"A tough, humane piece. Aims at both the heart and the head and leaves neither unchurned."
The Times
More information
The following booklet can be downloaded free of charge.
The Salt Wound and Dissent Resource Booklet
ISBN: 0-9549625-0-8, 9780954962500
Price: £3.99
Dissent by Stephen Greenhorn
"Greenhorn has penned a sharp comedy that looks at the government from a very different angle ... Dissent does not dwell on the personalities of New Labour but focuses on the motives that drive politicians up the greasy pole.
The play fires a broadside at the new generation of pragmatists whom the electoral landslide brought to power ... What Dissent does very successfully is dramatise the process by which grassroots support is traded for influence inside the party."
The Guardian
"There are plenty of laughs to be had ... But the dirty business of politics lends itself naturally to the thriller genre, and it's the clever twists and turns of Greenhorn's plotting that stands out ... Dissent succeeds in humanising an ongoing struggle and capturing illusions shattered since the last general election."
Scotland on Sunday
"Dissent's narrative style is pacy, plot-driven and brazenly disputatious, rooted in strongly fashioned characters and breezily iconoclastic humour."
The Independent
More information
The following booklet can be downloaded free of charge.
The Salt Wound and Dissent Resource Booklet
ISBN: 0-9545206-9-6, 9780954520694
Price: £3.99
King Matt by Stephen Greenhorn
"The story of a boy who becomes a king, is a simple fable filled with surprisingly complex resonances. In common with the very best in storytelling for children, it confronts the big moral issues surrounding the way in which one makes one's way in the world and through life: self-interest vying with self-sacrifice, the greed of the individual with the needs of the collective. The boy-king Matt is undoubtedly the hero of the tale but it is his human faults and frailties as well as his intrepid spirit that keep us on the edge of our seats right up to the suspense-filled ending. This is a play written for children that children would have great fun playing for themselves."
Hugh Hodgart, Head of Acting at RSAMD, Glasgow
Customer review
"King Matt is a rollicking adventure based on the stories of Dr Janusz Korczak. Stephen Greenhorn fashioned a tight, crisp script for TAG Theatre Company in 2001 and it is nearly as much of a delight to read as to see it performed.
It has that wild, child-like view of the adult world which appeals to young readers and performers but deals with profound issues. Democracy, warfare, revolution, counter-revolution, celebrity, heroism, totalitarianism, greed, the role of the press, all these and more are dealt with in thirty-five easily-digestible sections.
Desk-bound teachers may find the rhyming choral work an accessible hook for single or group readers. Those teachers more comfortable with practical Drama work will find much mileage for physical theatre, Greek Chorus-like speech and movement and avenues to explore non-naturalist settings.
Living in a community, respect for self and others, rights and responsibilities, cooperation, negotiation, etc., are all areas explored through Drama and Citizenship. The 'Matt the Reformer' scene (which resonates with George Orwell and Roald Dahl), one example of many possibilities, would be an interesting scene to workshop in a classroom to investigate some of these issues.
All in all, this play text should prove very beneficial to teachers and younger pupils."
Mark Russell, PT Drama, Cardinal Newan High School, Bellshill
More information
These notes have been provided by TAG Theatre Company and can be downloaded free of charge.
King Matt Resource Booklet
Resource booklet with ideas for exercises on King Matt which will help young people get the most out of the play (148 KB)
ISBN: 0-9545206-2-9, 9780954520625
Price: £3.99