Stags and Hens Stags and Hens Stags and Hens is a play written by Willy Russell. Like most of Willy Russell's work, the play discusses working class society in England in the 1970s. It makes comments about the working class' intellect, life, party habits and the exclusion of the different. It was originally written in 1978 for television and drama students of the then-Manchester Polytechnic, as an in-house television production. It was first published as a script in 1986 in a collection with Educating Rita and Blood Brothers. Russell adapted it for performance in 2008 as 'Stags and Hens - The Remix' at
Willy Russell West End run, the play has been translated and produced in almost every part the globe garnering awards both for its author and for many of the actors who have played the roles of Rita and Frank. Returning to the Liverpool Everyman in 1986, Russell created "Shirley Valentine" which went on to an acclaimed West End run, earning Olivier awards for both its author and star, Pauline Collins, before transferring to New York for a highly successful Broadway run and a Tony Best Actress award for Collins. Like the earlier "Educating Rita", "Shirley Valentine" became an international hit. Both "Shirley