Shed: Exploded View - by Phoebe Eclair-Powell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The smallest tremble. A smashed glass. The ripping apart of space and time.

Three couples. Thirty years. Mothers and daughters. Lovers, partners, husbands and wives. Babies, teenagers, birthdays, holidays, honeymoons, fireworks, near-misses, rain. This is a play about all of it.

A devastating and delicately woven piece about violence, love and loss, Phoebe Eclair-Powell's Shed: Exploded View won the 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Partly inspired by Cornelia Parker's stunning artwork Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, it was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2024, directed by Atri Banerjee.

Review Quotes

"A gritty and intensely moving account of domestic
violence... it is honest, and raw, and left me in bits." --Telegraph

"A formally ambitious exploration of love and violence...
Shed: Exploded View shatters and reassembles time, leaving us to pick through
the wreckage... Eclair-Powell holds individual moments up to the light,
inviting us to see the darkness thrown by seemingly trivial incidents...
quietly devastating." --The Stage

"Love, loss and horrific male violence... a play that is as
subtle as it is unsettling." --Guardian

"A bracing confrontation with the doom loop society seems
locked in... Incisive about the relationships domestic abuse destroys, and
women's attempts to shield each other from it." --WhatsOnStage

"A commanding exploration into the complexities of
relationships, facing hard truths, and devastating moments of violence...
heartbreaking and gut wrenching." --Reviews Hub

"An intriguing and fascinating play with a moving, tragic
story at the heart of it." --British Theatre Guide

"An absolutely wonderful play... a searing examination of
the cyclical nature of violence and the ways in which it permeates language and
societal norms... Eclair-Powell's writing is sharp and incisive, unafraid to
tackle difficult subject matter with honesty and nuance... just breathtaking...
one hell of an experience." --I Love Manchester

About the Author

Phoebe Eclair-Powell is a writer from South East London.

Her plays include: Shed: Exploded View (Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2024); Dorian, adapted with Owen Horsley from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (Reading Rep Theatre, 2021); Harm (Bush Theatre, 2021); Epic Love and Pop Songs (Pleasance, Edinburgh, 2016); Fury (Soho Theatre, 2016); WINK (Theatre503, 2015); One Under (Pleasance Below); Mrs Spine (OUTLINES at the Old Red Lion); Bangin' Wolves (Courting Drama at the Bush Upstairs, published by Playdead Press, later with Poleroid Theatre for Wilderness Festival); two rapid write response pieces, Coal Eaters and Glass Hands (Theatre503); The Box (Theatre Delicatessen SPACED festival and Latitude Festival); Elephant and My Castle (SALT Theatre at Southwark Playhouse); CARE (Miniaturists at the Arcola).

She was the overall winner of the 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, for her play Shed: Exploded View. Fury was a finalist for the 2015 Verity Bargate Award, and the winner of the Soho Theatre Young Writers' Award.