Laura Wade | |
---|---|
Born | Bedford, Bedfordshire, England | 16 October 1977
Occupation | Playwright |
Alma mater | Bristol University |
Partner | Samuel West |
Children | 2 |
Laura Wade is an English playwright.
Wade was born in Bedford, Bedfordshire. She grew up in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, where her father worked for a computer company. [1] After completing her secondary education at Lady Manners School in Bakewell, Derbyshire, she studied drama at Bristol University and was later a member of the Royal Court Theatre Young Writers' Programme.
Laura Wade's first play, Limbo, was produced at the Sheffield Crucible Studio Theatre in 1996. 16 Winters was produced at the Bristol Old Vic Basement Theatre in 2000. After university she worked for the children's theatre company Playbox Theatre in Warwick. Wade's adaptation of W. H. Davies' Young Emma opened at the Finborough Theatre, London (where she was later Writer-in-Residence) in December 2003. Both Young Emma and 16 Winters were directed by Tamara Harvey, a contemporary from Bristol. In 2004, Wade was a writer on attachment at Soho Theatre and her play Colder Than Here was produced there in February 2005. [2] Her next play Breathing Corpses played at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in March 2005. [3] In March 2006, she returned to the Soho Theatre with Other Hands. [4] 2010 marked her reappearance at the Sheffield Crucible with her reworking of Alice in Wonderland , entitled Alice. [5]
Wade's first radio play, Otherkin, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 30 August 2007, [6] a 45-minute play billed as episode 2 of the Looking for Angels series. Her second, Hum, about the Bristol Hum, was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 20 May 2009. Between these two she also wrote Coughs and Sneezes for the Radio 4 series Fact to Fiction. In April 2010, her play Posh began a sell-out run at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London. An article about Wade in the London Evening Standard at the time drew parallels between the Riot Club, the subject of Posh, and the Bullingdon Club, an exclusive Oxford University dining society. [7] On 11 May 2012, an updated version of Posh opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, Wade's first play to appear in the West End. A film adaptation of the play, The Riot Club, [8] directed by Lone Scherfig, was released in 2014. [9] In February 2015, the regional premiere of Posh was co-produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Salisbury Playhouse. [10]
In 2015, Wade adapted Sarah Waters novel Tipping the Velvet into a stage play of the same name. The play premiered at Lyric Hammersmith in September 2015, [11] before transferring to the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. [12]
On 4 July 2018, Wade's play Home, I'm Darling premiered at Theatr Clwyd. It was directed by Tamara Harvey, and starred Katherine Parkinson. [13] The play transferred to the National Theatre for a summer 2018 run, [14] to the Duke of York's Theatre in January 2019, [15] and later won Best Comedy at the 2019 Laurence Olivier Awards. [16]
Wade adapted the unfinished Jane Austen novel The Watsons into a play, which premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre on 3 November 2018, directed by Samuel West. [17] It had a further run at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 20 September 2019. [18] The West End transfer of The Watsons was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. [19]
Wade's plays are published by Oberon Books in the UK and by Dramatists Play Service in the US.
On 25 August 2022 it was announced that Laura Wade would be one of the writers and executive producers of the new Disney+ series Rivals , based on the novel by Jilly Cooper. [20]
From 2007 to 2011, Wade lived with actor Samuel West, [21] son of actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales. [22] [23] After a two-year split, Wade and West reunited, and now have two daughters, born in 2014 and 2017. [24]
Samuel Alexander Joseph West is an English actor, theatre director and narrator. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor in theatre, film, television, and radio. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Leonard Bast in the Merchant Ivory film adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel Howards End (1992), and was later nominated for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of the title role in Rupert's Land (1998). In 2010 he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for her his portrayal of Jeffrey Skilling in Lucy Prebble's Enron. He has appeared as reciter with orchestras and performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2002. He has narrated several documentary series, including five for the BBC about the Second World War.
Theatr Clwyd is a regional arts centre and producing theatre 1 mile (1.6 km) from Mold, Flintshire, in North East Wales. It opened as Theatr Clwyd in 1976, but was known between 1998 and 2015 as Clwyd Theatr Cymru, before reverting to its original name.
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world premieres of new plays primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland including work in the Scots language, alongside rarely seen rediscovered 19th and 20th century plays. The venue also presents new and rediscovered music theatre.
Claire Louise Price is an English actress.
Mike Poulton is an English writer, translator and adapter of classic plays for contemporary audiences. He has been Tony nominated for his play 'Fortune's Fool' along with his adaptations of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies'.
Anna Mackmin is a British theatre director. She has been an associate director at the Sheffield Crucible and at the Gate Theatre in London.
Chris Bush is a British playwright and artistic director.
Playbox Theatre Company is a theatre company for children and young people based in Warwick, England. Playbox provide training for children and young people aged 3–25 in various different areas, including theatre training, musical theatre, circus, voice and Shakespeare. Based at their purpose built theatre in Warwick, The Dream Factory, Playbox also run training sessions at various outlying centres including Leamington, Stratford-upon-Avon, Kenilworth, Solihull and Banbury. As well as providing training, Playbox also put on a number of productions throughout the year at The Dream Factory, in addition to international tours.
Steffan Rhodri is a Welsh film and television actor, best known for portraying Dave Coaches in Gavin & Stacey. He has appeared in both English-language and Welsh-language films, television and stage productions. He played Reg Cattermole in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and as the voice of Drippy in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. He has been called "Wales' most prolific actor".
The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the renowned British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the Sunday Times newspaper and the National Theatre. The awards were established in 1990 after Charleson's death, and have been awarded annually since then. Sunday Times theatre critic John Peter (1938–2020) initiated the creation of the awards, particularly in memory of Charleson's extraordinary Hamlet, which he had performed shortly before his death. Recipients receive a cash prize, as do runners-up and third-place winners.
Alexi Kaye Campbell is a Greek-British playwright and actor. In 2009, his play The Pride was given the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.
Sandra Voe is a Scottish actress of film, television, and theatre.
Joshua McGuire is a British television, film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Angus in the Channel 4/Netflix comedy series Lovesick. He starred opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at The Old Vic. He portrayed Briar Cudgeon in the film Artemis Fowl.
Ryan Ellsworth is a Canadian-born British actor. A graduate of LAMDA, he made his professional stage debut in Declan Donnellan's production of Antigone at the Old Vic Theatre in 1999.
Breathing Corpses is a 2005 play by the British playwright Laura Wade which first premiered at the Royal Court Theatre.
Colder Than Here is the debut play by the British playwright Laura Wade. It premiered in 2005 at the Soho Theatre directed by Abigail Morris.
James Graham is a British playwright and screenwriter. His work has been staged throughout the UK and internationally, at theatres including the Bush, Soho Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and the National Theatre.
Jessica Ransom is a British actress and writer, best known for her role as medical receptionist Morwenna Newcross in the ITV drama Doc Martin (2011–2022), as well as being a writer on The Amazing World of Gumball. She won a Children's BAFTA Award in 2015.
Rebecca Lock is an English actress who has worked extensively in Musical Theatre, including many leading West End roles.
Home, I'm Darling is a play by Laura Wade.