‘I want the world to change shape.’
‘I’m not sure theatre can do that.’
‘Well then where am I meant to take that impulse because I’m very serious about the endeavour?’
A young writer challenges the status quo but discovers that creative gain comes at a personal cost.
The Writer premiered in 2018 at the Almeida Theatre, London, in a production directed by Blanche McIntyre.
The Writer was a finalist for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
‘A playwright who grabs the zeitgeist’ Independent
‘Wow. Here’s a drama that channels all the righteous anger of the moment, the pent-up fury that women have found themselves at last allowed to express… [Ella Hickson] hits the jackpot once more with this coruscating examination of power structures both artistic and personal and how received ideas shaped by an inescapably patriarchal society infuse the two realms’
— Evening Standard
‘An eloquent, intellectually agile, vividly written and frequently furious play…
a compelling theatrical experience’
— The Stage
‘Electrifying… very punk rock, a thrillingly uninhibited rally against the establishment’
— Time Out
‘Hickson strikes a nerve with her story of toxic masculinity and egocentrism… this momentous new play is a voice that needs to be heard’
— Broadway World
‘Funny, raw, unflaggingly inventive… a sophisticated play for the MeToo generation’
— Telegraph
‘It’s sharp, savage stuff… it never for a second is anything less than engrossing and serious, raising issues that need to be raised… Hickson’s writing can take the breath away’
— WhatsOnStage
‘A bold and vivid explosion of anger’
— Radio Times
