Punk Rock (theatre)

Punk Rock is a British play by Simon Stephens, first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in 2009.

The plot centers around seven public school sixth formers during their A Level mock exams, chronicling their various insecurities, and neuroses, and relationships with each other. Until, of course, things go really, really bad.

The play's name has two meanings. Firstly, the straightforward one: each scene is titled after a punk rock song, which is possibly to be played as the introduction to the scene. Secondly, it reflects the general air of youth discontent that permeates the show.

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Tropes used in Punk Rock (theatre) include:

• Axes At School: The terrifying penultimate scene, when William shoots three of his classmates.
• The Bully: Bennett
• Dogged Nice Guy: William at first...
• Downer Ending
• Driven to Suicide: Subverted, then played straight; not in the way you might expect. For a while we're supposed to think this will be Chadwick's fate; he even tells William he thinks it might be better to just end it all. Ironically, Chadwick is one of characters who survives, and this fate befalls William instead. In the end, though, he find he can't bring himself to pull the trigger.
• Jerkass: Bennett. And how.
• Mr. Fanservice: Nick, the lacrosse player. Especially when Lilly asks to feel his muscles...
• Wham! Line: "Don't come to school tomorrow."