Stephen is one of Britain’s leading librettists and book writers for musical theatre. He is currently tenured as Writer-in-Residence at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he was appointed Professor of Dramatic Writing in 2018. He co-runs the Opera Makers MA Programme at this school, which trains students in cross-arts collaboration.
Stephen began his theatrical career as a translator of plays at the Royal National Theatre, before going on to run his own theatre company Alarmist Theatre, which performed many of his plays and translations throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Subsequently, his plays and opera librettos have been performed by many different companies throughout Europe. He wrote the libretto for Paint Me, Luís Tinoco's chamber opera performed at Culturgest in Lisbon in 2010. He also wrote the book for the musicals Moonshadow (Yusuf Islam) and Daddy Cool (Frank Farian) and the book and lyrics for String! (Tony Biggin). Most recently, in 2024, with Marcia Bellamy, he adapted Léhar's The Merry Widow for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has recently completed a study of the opera libretto Who Wrote the Libretto?, forthcoming from Parvenu Press.
