Ella Hickson

Last updated

Ella Hickson FRSL (born 1985) is a British playwright and theatrical director who was brought up in Guildford in Surrey and educated at Guildford High School from 1996-2003. She now lives in London.

Contents

Career

Hickson's first play, Eight , produced by the Edinburgh University Theatre Company, won a Fringe First, the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award and the NSDF Emerging Artists Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008. The show toured to New York City in January 2009 and opened at Trafalgar Studios in July 2009.

Hickson's second play Precious Little Talent opened at Trafalgar Studios in March 2011, directed by James Dacre.

In 2011, Hickson appeared in The Guardian's culture section as one of the four young playwrights to watch in the future, as did Lucy Prebble, who also went to Guildford High School.

In 2012 her third play Boys premiered at HighTide Festival Theatre directed by Robert Icke for Headlong Theatre. It went on to tour at Nuffield Southampton Venues, as well as Soho Theatre London. [1]

In 2013 her play Wendy & Peter Pan , an adaptation of J.M. Barrie's novel, was produced at the Royal Shakespeare Company for the Christmas 2013 season, directed by Jonathan Munby. It was later revived for the Christmas 2015 season.

In 2014 her adaptation of the legends of Merlin opened at Royal & Derngate and Nuffield Southampton, directed by Liam Steel.

In October 2016 her play Oil premiered at the Almeida, starring Anne-Marie Duff and directed by Carrie Cracknell.

In 2018 the Almeida staged The Writer, directed by Blanche McIntyre and featuring Sam West, Romola Garai and Lara Rossi. [2]

In 2019 Anna a binaural thriller, opened at The National Theatre. Hickson collaborated with sound designers, Ben and Max Ringham. The play was directed by Natalie Abrahami. [3]

In June 2018 Hickson was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. [4]

Hickson currently teaches at Oxford University.

Trivia

Hickson is the youngest person ever to be published by Nick Hern Books.

Related Research Articles

Pam Gems was an English playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf.

Almeida Theatre

The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West End theatres.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz is a British playwright and screenwriter. She is best known as the author of Her Naked Skin (2008), which was the first original play written by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage of the Royal National Theatre.

Rupert Goold

Rupert Goold, is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013).

Christopher Shinn is an American playwright. His play Dying City (2006) was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and Where Do We Live (2004) won the 2005 Obie Award, Playwriting.

HighTide is a theatre company based in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. It is one of the UK’s leading producers of new plays, and the only professional theatre company focused on the production of new playwrights. The company produces around six new productions each year which tour the UK's leading theatres and internationally.

Sean Mathias British actor

Sean Gerard Mathias is a Welsh-born theatre director, film director, writer and actor, known for directing the film Bent and for directing highly acclaimed theatre productions in London, New York City, Cape Town, Los Angeles and Sydney. He has also had a notable professional partnership with actor and former romantic partner Ian McKellen since the late 1970s.

Zawe Ashton

Zawe Ashton FRSL is an English actress, playwright, director and narrator best known for her roles in Channel 4 comedy dramas Fresh Meat and Not Safe for Work and her portrayal of Joyce Carol Vincent in Dreams of a Life. She will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a villain in The Marvels (2022).

Lucy Ann Kirkwood is a British playwright and screenwriter. She is writer in residence at Clean Break. In June 2018 Kirkwood was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.

Stephen Jeffreys was a British playwright and playwriting teacher. He wrote original plays, films and play adaptations and also worked as translator. Jeffreys is best known for his play The Libertine about the Earl of Rochester, which was performed at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago with John Malkovich as Rochester, and later adapted into a film starring Malkovich and Johnny Depp.

Headlong is a British touring theatre company noted for making bold, innovative productions with some of the UK’s finest artists.

Lucy Prebble is a British playwright. She is the author of the plays The Sugar Syndrome, The Effect, ENRON and A Very Expensive Poison. For television she adapted Secret Diary of a Call Girl and co-created I Hate Suzie with her close friend Billie Piper. Since 2018, Prebble is Co-Executive Producer and writer on Succession.

Jack Thorne English screenwriter and playwright

Jack Thorne FRSL is an English screenwriter and playwright. Born in Bristol, he has written for radio, theatre and film. Thorne began his TV career writing on Shameless and Skins, before writing Cast Offs in 2009. He has since created the shows Glue, The Last Panthers, Kiri and The Accident. He is also the writer of the television adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. He has won five BAFTA awards: Best Mini-Series for This is England ’88, Best Drama Series for The Fades, Best Single Drama for Don't Take My Baby, Best Serial for This is England ’90 and Best Original Series for National Treasure.

Simon Godwin is an English theatre director based in Washington, DC, where he is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Previously he was based in London, serving as Associate Director of London's National Theatre, Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre and Associate Director at Bristol Old Vic.

Natalie Abrahami is a British theatre, film and opera director. She was Associate Director and Genesis Fellow at the Young Vic in London 2013-16 and Associate Artist at Hull Truck Theatre. From 2007–12 she was joint Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre with Carrie Cracknell.

Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her work is translated and performed in many countries.

Robert Icke is an English writer and theatre director. He has been referred to as the "great hope of British theatre."

Wendy & Peter Pan is a play by Ella Hickson, adapted from the original play and novel Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J.M. Barrie. The play is a re-telling of the classic children's story which features Wendy Darling as the protagonist who flies away with Peter Pan to Neverland.

<i>Fantastic Mr Fox</i> (musical) 2016 stage adaptation of Roald Dahl novel

Fantastic Mr Fox is a musical stage adaptation of the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, adapted by Sam Holcroft with music by Arthur Darvill and lyrics by Holcroft, Darvill, Darren Clark and Al Muriel. The story follows Mr Fox who hatches a plan to outsmart his three farmer neighbours in order to feed his family and friends.

Sarah Grochala is a British playwright. Her plays have been performed at the Finborough Theatre, Theatre503, Hampstead Theatre, Arcola Theatre and Soho Theatre in London. Her plays have been produced internationally by the Griffin Theatre, Sydney, Tiyatro Yan Etki Istanbul, Turkey and on the Toronto Fringe Toronto Fringe Festival, Canada. Her book on playwriting, The Contemporary Political Play, was published in 2017.

References

  1. "Boys | Tours | Headlong".
  2. Taylor, Paul (25 April 2018). "The Writer, review: Unflaggingly provocative". The Independent . Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  3. "ANNA". 15 January 2019.
  4. Flood, Alison (28 June 2018). "Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.