Isley Lynn – författare

No-one would have believed in the early years of the twentieth century that this world was being watched...There is nothing more alluring than a good story. When Orson Welles adapted The War of the Worlds, he wanted to create a thrilling radio drama that would ‘feel’ real. In fact, it felt so real that it caused hysteria amongst a public just getting used to the outside world invading their living rooms via the radio. Fast forward to 2016, and the internet has replaced the radio as the medium through which we make sense of the world. We remain just as susceptible …Inspired by H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novel and Orson Welles’ classic radio play, this legendary science fiction thriller is playfully reimagined as a play by Isley Lynn for our era of Fake News and ‘alternative facts’.

“It’s not just the choiceIt’s never just the choiceChoice is a fairytale.”Tattoos are forever. Almost. And at Noodle Soup Tattoo there are strict rules: No names unless they’re dead. Nothing on the face. Nothing you might get sued for later.When Jodie, a rough sleeper, asks for a free tattoo from apprentice Kit, her request is well within the guidelines. But Kit is still unsure, because they know only too well that getting inked isn’t the only decision that stays with you for the rest of your life.Albatross is a small but sweeping story about the past refusing to stay in the past. It was originally commissioned by Plaines Plough in collaboration with Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and is published here to coincide with its production at the Playground Theatre, London in October 2021.

Staging Violence Against Women and Girls brings together three contemporary plays that denounce gendered violence, along with interviews with their creators and the practitioners who have staged them in different national contexts.Little Stitches (London, 2014): consisting of four short pieces by Isley Lynn, Raúl Quirós Molina, Bahar Brunton and Karis E. Halsall, this play presents Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) from the points of view of by-standers, anti-FGM/C activists, health professionals, women who perpetuatethe practice and, finally, survivors.‘Kubra’ (Sydney, 2016): written by Dacia Maraini, this short play features a young woman who was subjected to FGM/C as a child and now, years later, brings her case to court in a search for justice. A Trial for Rape (Rome, 2018): adapted for theatre by Renato Chiocca from the international award-winning 1979 documentary of the same name, this play reveals how judicial procedures and attitudes toward sexual violence tend to turn rape survivors from accusers into accused.In their interviews, the writers, directors and producers discuss their conception and production of the works collected in Staging Violence Against Women and Girls. The plays and their creators highlight the urgency of raising awareness of these forms of violence and giving voice to survivors.

Staging Violence Against Women and Girls brings together three contemporary plays that denounce gendered violence, along with interviews with their creators and the practitioners who have staged them in different national contexts.Little Stitches (London, 2014): consisting of four short pieces by Isley Lynn, Raúl Quirós Molina, Bahar Brunton and Karis E. Halsall, this play presents Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) from the points of view of by-standers, anti-FGM/C activists, health professionals, women who perpetuatethe practice and, finally, survivors.‘Kubra’ (Sydney, 2016): written by Dacia Maraini, this short play features a young woman who was subjected to FGM/C as a child and now, years later, brings her case to court in a search for justice. A Trial for Rape (Rome, 2018): adapted for theatre by Renato Chiocca from the international award-winning 1979 documentary of the same name, this play reveals how judicial procedures and attitudes toward sexual violence tend to turn rape survivors from accusers into accused.In their interviews, the writers, directors and producers discuss their conception and production of the works collected in Staging Violence Against Women and Girls. The plays and their creators highlight the urgency of raising awareness of these forms of violence and giving voice to survivors.

Winner of the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright 2023Nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre at the Olivier Awards 2024You need to meet the other special people. There are so many of us. You’ll fall in love every day.Annie is happy at last – she’s engaged to Bel, the love of her life, and counting down the days to their wedding. But then old friend, free spirit, and troublemaker Flo turns up unexpectedly, and announces she’ll be staying with them until the big day. Their surprise reunion turns into a complicated love triangle with dangerous consequences that threaten to destroy Annie’s Happily Ever After...Isley Lynn's thrilling romantic drama The Swell is a gripping story spanning decades of love, sacrifice and betrayal, which was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2020. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, in June 2023.

The first collection of plays from Olivier-nominated playwright Isley Lynn, whose award-winning work uplifts their deeply human characters through stories that are unexpected, radically intimate, and profoundly theatrical.Lean (2013): "It's not just powerful but it's incandescent. There is a profound intensity... that truly keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. Sensitively written... Exemplary theatre at its best." The London StageSkin A Cat (2016): "Frequently hilarious, it’s also refreshingly honest and open in its discussion of menstruation, masturbation, oral and anal sex, and might well be the smartest, sharpest piece about female sexual identity since Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag... this is bold and genuinely exciting new writing." The Stagealbatross (2021): "Every intimate, individual scene is engaging, as the full-bodied characters knock up against their own judgments and histories... Lynn’s scenes are full of genuine connections between characters, and the hope that comes with change." GuardianThe Swell (2023): "Isley Lynn’s characters are nuanced and beautifully drawn, and the play’s dialogue is gorgeously natural and flowing. Where the playwright really excels though, is in bold and unexpected choices. The Swell takes its audience on some hugely gripping twists and turns. Lynn's writing is genuinely exciting." Evening StandardIsley won the Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award at the 2023 Evening Standard Theatre Awards for The Swell, which was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement In An Affiliate Theatre at the 2024 Olivier Awards, as well as Best New Play, Best Director, and Best Production at the 2023 Off West End awards. Skin A Cat was awarded Pick Of The Year at Vault Festival 2016 and nominated for four Off West End Awards (Most Promising New Playwright - shortlist, Best New Play, Best Lead Female, Best Director) for its transfer as inaugural production at The Bunker, 2016, before touring nationally throughout 2018. Isley was the 2014 Script6 winner at The Space with Bright Nights, they received Special Commendation from the 2012 Soho Young Writers Award for Lomography, and they were twice named Champion of Literary Death Match (Norfolk and Norwich Festival, The Book Club London).

As far as I'm concerned, why get paid to sit on my arse at home when I can get paid to sit on my arse in a lobbyWhere I also get paidBea's secretly working three full-time jobs.All at the same time.And she's still financially f*cked.Between looking after luxury flats and dogsitting the world's ugliest pooch, she's neck-deep in employers and it's only a matter of time until someone finds out she's breaking all her contracts.Armed with nothing but her smarmiest boss' dirty secret, can Bea get herself out of the red and into the black (and into the fit intern's bed)? Or will the plates she's been spinning come crashing down around her and her dysfunctional family?Jobsworth is a riotous comedy about snakes and surviving capitalism written by Isley Lynn and Libby Rodliffe.This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Pleasance Courtyard, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.