Set around Limehouse Cut and the Lee River in East London, "Herons" is the story of 14-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by his father's actions. As the teenagers that surrond him on his estate step up their campaign of bullying, the play escalates to a violent climax.

"A major new voice in British theatre" (Scotsman) Set around Limehouse Cut and the Lee River in East London, Herons is the disturbing and moving story of fourteen-year-old Billy, whose life has been made a misery by his father's actions. As the teenagers that surround him on the estate step up their campaign of bullying, the play escalates to a violent climax.Commissioned by the Royal Court, Herons premiered there on 18 May 2001.

"Stephens is terrific on the rituals of fear and violence" - Telegraph

"Simon Stephens' sharp shock of a play . . . Stephens and Joel Horwood (as dramaturg) let the text flow, with staccato scenes sliding into each other as if they're all part of an endless now - time and space funnelled into a single bleak and deserted playground. . . . There are no easy answers, just cycles of hurt. It seems grimly relevant today, as we demonise or dismiss sections of society for self-reassurance." - Stage

"Stephens suggests that there are social factors explaining acts of grotesque cruelty and that the human spirit can never be entirely quashed. . . . It's an unremittingly powerful play" - Guardian

"a bracing vision of adolescent cruelty" - Evening Standard

"It's in-yer-face theatre at its grimy best" - Exeunt

"[A] bracing vision of adolescent cruelty." - Evening Standard