“I think something has changed in the last few years, it’s been a remarkable time in the way we think about young people. Young people are an obsession for the media and government and a lot of people are frightened of them, to the extent that they cross the street to avoid them. That, I thought, was worth exploring.” These are the words of Simon Stephens when The Oxford Times speaks to him ahead of his breakthrough play, Punk Rock, opening at the Playhouse next week.

A former schoolteacher, Stephens has gone from an unknown to one of the UK’s most wanted writers in a few short months.

Punk Rock achieved rave reviews when it opened at the Lyric Hammersmith and was revived less than a year later.

His latest creation, TV drama Dive about an aspiring teenage diver who falls pregnant was also received superbly and seems to show that the transfer to writing for the screen is his if he wants it. Although, he says, he’s not got anything like that lined up.

“I’ve got no burning interest to do more TV” he says. “I loved doing Dive, but I’d be happy to write plays forever.”

Right now, he’s focused on Punk Rock’s first UK tour, which he says, is going really well.

“It’s going down dead well and I’m really happy people across the UK are going to get to see it.”

Punk Rock is set in a Stockport grammar school and is the story of seven pupils studying for their mock exams.

So why did Stephens decide to write about this particular time of life?

“I’ve always written about young people and young characters. It’s a personal thing because I used to be a schoolteacher and I still do a lot of teaching now.

“I’m constantly invigorated and inspired by young people, constantly provoked by the questions they ask me and I wanted to do something about young people.”

Stephens grew up in Stockport, the grizzled market town on the outskirts of Manchester and he’s set a number of his plays there.

So, is Stockport integral to the story?

“I’d say Stockport is absolutely fundamental to Punk Rock. It’s a small town on the edge of a big city and I always feel that its relationship with Manchester is really dramatically charged.”

Punk Rock is almost entirely set in the library of the grammar school. Why did Stephens decide to set the play in this way?

“I’ve never done it before and I always wanted to. I’m actually still disappointed in myself that I set the last scene somewhere else. I think it definitely adds something to the play’s intensity.

“It also tells you that these are different kids — kids who have a special relationship with books and the library. Their heroes are people like Walter Scott and they want to be in the library. It’s their special place, with no adults to conscript what they read.”

Not to give too much away, but at the end of Punk Rock things unravel when one of the characters pulls out a gun.

Stephens has spoken in the past of how affected he was by the Columbine massacre and how it informed Punk Rock, so does he think that kind of thing could really happen in England?

“I don’t think violence is any less prevalent amongst young people in the UK. There are as many disaffected kids here as anywhere else.”

But surely guns are much less available?

“Maybe in the eyes of the law, but I think anyone who really tried could get access to a gun within 12 hours. In any town if you went to the right pub and had £100, then you could get a gun. No problem.”

Whether Stephens gets sucked off to Hollywood or keeps writing about his birthplace of Heaton Moor, it’ll be fascinating to watch.

Punk Rock is at the Oxford Playhouse from November 2 to 6.