“[A] bloody great bruise of a play which borrows, magpie-like, from Sarah Kane but which is always distinctively itself. It has a shard-like lyricism that tears through the heart. It finds the comic in the tragic... a shattering 80 minutes.” —Guardian

“In a relatively short space of time Stef Smith has established herself as a remarkably diverse and elusive playwright… her most assured to date.” —The Times

“Dazzlingly deft… there are so many reasons to love this piece… a must-see.” —Independent

“Smith’s script is dense with tense and memorable imagery… packed with powerful language.” —The Stage

“An elegant and glowing piece of 21st-century magic realism… [a] rich mix of drama and poetry, comedy and tragedy.” —Scotsman

Three strangers are about to face their demons head on. Balanced precariously on the tipping point, they might just be able to save one another – if they can only overcome their urge to self-destruct.

Passionate, painful and playful, Stef Smith’s Swallow takes a long, hard look at the extremes of everyday life. The play premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, as part of the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received a Scotsman Fringe First Award. It was directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin, and featured original music by LAWholt.

Stef Smith studied Drama and Theatre Arts at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. She supplied the text for the critically acclaimed and sold-out show RoadKill (Edinburgh Festival 2010, 2011) which won an Olivier Award in 2012. Other plays include: Swallow (Traverse Theatre 2015), Remote (National Theatre Connections 2015), CURED (Glasgay!), Grey Matter (Aberdeen Performing Arts), Falling/Flying (The Tron, Glasgow), The Silence of Bees (The Arches) and a BBC Scotland radio drama entitled Tea and Symmetry. She has also been on an invited residency at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, writer on attachment with the National Theatre of Scotland and was part of the National Writers Group at the Royal Court Theatre in London.