Judy Upton – författare

The third volume in an anthology series of the most original and exciting new plays for the nineties Europe, set in an international rail station linking several countries examines the cultural shifts of the post Berlin wall years and is "a fierce, compassionate mightily ambitious drama...There is a sharp analytic intelligence...about this gripping play." (The Scotsman) Uganda is set in a front sitting room but explores children's love of their fathers, it won the Thames Television Best Play Award in 1994 and "confirms my feeling that Johnson is on the threshold of great things" (Guardian). Some Voices by Joe Penhall, looks at mental illness and the love between two brothers (it has since been made into a feature film), it is "haunting and jazzily contemporary. Penhall's post-Pinter is promising" (Observer). Ashes and Sand reflects on the world of school leavers in England's "Deep South" and won the George Devine Award in 1994: "Judy Upton's vicious little hand grenade of a play...takes us into the bleak world of a violent girl gang living in a seaside resort." (Independent)

This volume brings together two plays of unbearable love and brutality by the winner of the 1994 George Devine and Verity Bargate awards Bruises: Beyond the windows of a South Coast boarding house lies a world of violence and pain, a world where a father is passing an inheritance of drunken cruelty onto his son. The Shorewatcher's House: A coastal village. A nuclear power station on the horizon. Three entangled lovers obsessed by fear of destruction play out their fantasies of breaking free.

"Upton's a playful writer who likes nothing better than to upset expectations." Judy Upton's new play premiered at the Royal Court in August 2001 directed by Max Stafford-Clark Thirty five and on the slide, Suzanne does a runner back home to Brighton in search of a new start. But home is a place where big breaks are scarce. And kids grow up - fast. So how do you find what you want in a place like this? And who do you find it with? From the award-winning author of Ashes and Sand, Sliding with Suzanne is the powerful and bitterly humorous story of a single foster mum who tries to turn her life around.Upton's a playful writer who likes nothing better than to upset expectations.

"Judy Upton's a playful writer who likes nothing better than to upset expectations" Independent Ashes and Sand: "Searing, brutal...Judy Upton's vicious little hand grenade of a play explodes onto the stage...her writing blazes with anger about the waste of a generation with no hopes" Independent "Sunspots confirms Upton as one of the most promising writers working in London at present" What's On People on the River: "A skilfully written and entertainingly hard-nosed look at the victim culture of tabloid telly" Time Out Stealing Souls: "The writing is diamond hard, slippery and clear like thin ice covering a particularly murky pond" Guardian Know Your Rights: "A moving and accomplished piece...Upton's play can dispense with arguments and right-on statements because in creating characters she develops situation." The Times

Upton's a playful writer who likes nothing better than to upset expectations Join the schemers and the dreamer on the English seafront, as another summer season begins. There's serious money to be made. Amongst the paint-peeling kiosks on the prom, Ella arrives like an erotic whilrwind, hell-bent on secruing the elusive jackpot and a ticket to Hollywood. But everyone else is raising their game too and, as events race towards an explosive conclusion, a pet hamster lies frozen amongst the melting Mivvis.

Celebrating 10 years of the London New Play Festival, featuring six plays:Wild Turkey by Joe Penhall: Two small businessmen struggle to keep their flagging burger bar afloat, in the face of increasingly savage and bizarre forces.Everlasting Rose by Judy Upton: Terrified of ageing, a caravan Casanova changes wives every decade, until a woman of the 90's challenges his routine.Strindberg Knew My Father by Mark Jenkins: Life becomes farce as Strindberg loses control over his characters while writing 'Miss Julie'.In the Fields of Aceldama by Naomi Wallace: When their only child dies in an accident, Mattie and Henry draw on her spirited past to find the strength to go on.Two Horsemen by Biyi Bandele: Baja and Langbaja trade stories about life, sex and god in a run-down shack. Will their stories sustain them, or trap them forever?Maison Splendide by Laura Bridgetman: House-sitting for gangsters, Honey and Moon enact a 'let's pretend' lesbian white wedding, parodying suburban customs.

If you’re not interested in earning a new pair of Nikes by the end of the day…complete designer wardrobe by the end of the week…all the beers you can drink…if you don’t want to meet Uma Thurman…then okay, stay here, as King of the Slackers, that’s fine by me.As another summer season on the seafront gets underway Ella is turning up the heat in a high stakes game to get as far away as possible. Whilst Ruby keeps the café going and Dean mans the ice cream kiosk Ella learns there’s no fast track to success.Judy Upton's coming of age drama first exploded onto the stage in 1998 at the Birmingham Rep. This new edition has been published to coincide with Boundless Theatre's twentieth anniversary revival at the Southwark Playhouse in May 2018.

Since her early break-through at the Royal Court Theatre in 1995, where she won the George Devine award and was joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award, Judy Upton has proven herself to be one of Britain's most prolific and diverse writers. In this, her second collection, we see work ranging from 1995 through to the 2000s and a collection of short work created during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic. Bruises (1995) Royal Court Theatre, London - "This is no angry polemic but a subtly atmospheric piece ... Neither writer nor director seeks easy answers in this coolly disturbing view of an issue usually hammered home with both fists." (Evening Standard)The Girlz (1998) Orange Tree, London - "Judy Upton's ever-promising career takes another small leap forward with this tantalising foray into characteristic Upton territory, the febrile world of foul-mouthed, disadvantaged young females from the south-east." (Time Out) Sliding With Suzanne (2001) Royal Court Theatre, London - "Judy Upton probably won't thank me for saying so, but her new play, Sliding with Suzanne, comes over as that rarest of phenomena - a contemporary play with a Right-wing agenda. If Margaret Thatcher went to see it she would be appalled by the language and much of the action but would, I suspect, end up applauding its sentiments." (Telegraph) Gaby Goes Global (2009) New Wimbledon Theatre, London - A wry and mischievous look at the benefits system, and the world of fine art. Gaby is a downtrodden employment advisor at the Benefit Delivery Centre. She tries to get rich by promoting the struggling artists who sign on. But it is Gaby who grabs all the attention - with the sort of exposure she hadn't bargained for...Lockdown Tales (2020) - "a story of struggle, hope, even more struggle and then hope which provides a sensitive and sincere insight into the mind of a key worker during lockdown … a must watch and is the epitome of the type of work that should be produced during lockdown." (A Younger Theatre)