Alecky Blythe

Alecky Blythe
Alecky Blythe interview from BBC Films - London Road
Born	1976 (age 49–50)
Education	University of Warwick, (BA) Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, (PGDiploma)
Occupations	Playwright, Actor
Years active	2003–present

Alecky Blythe (born 1976) ^[1] is a British playwright and screenwriter. She has written several plays, including the acclaimed 2011 musical London Road . ^[2] Blythe is best known for her pioneering work in verbatim theatre. Her theatre company Recorded Delivery was set up in 2003 to advance this branch of theatre.

Career

Alecky Blythe studied theatre at the University of Warwick before completing postgraduate studies in acting at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Her first play Come Out Eli premiered at the Arcola Theatre in September 2003 and won a Time Out Award for Best Performance on the Fringe. ^[3] The Girlfriend Experience premiered at the Royal Court and then transferred to the Young Vic in 2009. While researching the play she spent 18 months in a "quintessentially English" brothel in Bournemouth. ^[4] Do We Look Like Refugees? won a Fringe First Award at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival.

She collaborated with composer Adam Cork to create London Road, a verbatim musical about the murders of five sex workers in Ipswich in 2006 ^[5] which opened at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in 2011 to widespread acclaim. It was named Best Musical at both the Critics' Circle Awards and Standard Theatre Awards in 2011 and transferred to the National Theatre's larger Olivier stage in 2012. The show was revived for a three week run in June 2025 as part of Rufus Norris' final season as artistic director. ^[6]

Her next play, Where Have I Been All My Life?, about a talent contest in Stoke-on-Trent, ^[7] opened at the New Vic Theatre in April 2012. In 2014, Blythe's Little Revolution was produced at the Almeida Theatre. ^[8] Blythe acted as a version of herself, and the cast included Ronni Ancona and Imogen Stubbs.

In other work, Blythe took part in Headlong Theatre's production of Decade at St Katherine's Docks. She wrote and co-directed a BBC2 documentary on the London riots. She is also working on a film script.

In June 2021, the National Theatre announced that it would stage a co-production of Our Generation with Chichester Festival Theatre early in 2022, a work based on interviews about the lives of 12 young British people, directed by the latter's artistic director Daniel Evans. The interviews took place over a period of 5 years and involved 12 young people from across the UK including Belfast, Birmingham, East of England, Glasgow, London and North Wales.

Stage works

• Come Out Eli, 2003
• The Girlfriend Experience, 2009
• Do We Look Like Refugees?, 2010
• London Road, 2011 and 2025 revival
• Where Have I Been All My Life?, 2012
• Little Revolution, 2014
• Our Generation, 2022

References

1. "Playwright delves into the world of sex workers". Evening Standard. 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
2. "Honorary Graduates- Winter 2018". warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
3. Clapp, Susannah (2003-09-07). "Come and get me, copper". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
4. "Playwright delves into the world of sex workers". Evening Standard. 2012-04-10. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
5. "Alecky Blythe: 'To get interviews, there are certain risks'". The Guardian. 2012-04-07. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-03-19.
6. "National Theatre announces final season for Rufus Norris including Sondheim, Rosamund Pike, London Road, and more". 2024-09-24. Retrieved 2026-01-12.
7. Clapp, Susannah (2012-04-14). "Long Day's Journey Into Night; Where Have I Been All My Life?; Chalet Lines – review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2026-01-12.
8. Billington, Michael (2014-09-04). "Little Revolution review – reading of the riots captures rifts but not the rage". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2026-01-12.