WOMEN IN THEATRE: PLAYWRIGHTS PART III
Where are they now?
Heather Jeffery 1 December 2025
BRAVE NEW WRITERS
Following Part I and Part II published in 2020 celebrating female playwrights, two new features are planned. Part IV, to be published in December, will take a look at the last five years, asking ‘What do women want to say now’ and it will also include LPT Critics choice of top twenty writers.
In this article, Part III, the question asked is ‘Where are They Now?’ Taking a look at ten writers who were featured in 2020. Firstly, a small reminder of how far women in theatre have come.
INTRODUCTION
In Shakespeare’s day women were banned from acting in theatres. In a sense Shakespeare didn’t write roles for women, he wrote roles for the young men who would play them. Although male playwrights can write good roles for women, (Shakespeare wrote a few), they cannot write them from the ‘inside’. I’d like to quote philosopher Thomas Nagel, and his 1974 essay, ‘What it is Like to Be a Bat?’ Vastly collapsing his essay to essentials, he suggests that we can all imagine what it’s like to navigate by sonar or to hang upside down by clawed feet, but we cannot really experience it from the inside, in the way that a bat experiences it.
Over the last ten years many women have been writing about subjects which were formerly taboo. Bravely highlighting the female experience often challenging preconceptions. How invigorating, to finally hear women writing about themselves which includes every corner, previously ignored, a phenomenon of our times. In Part 1 & Part II, it was noted that in five years during 2015 – 2020 there was a flourishing of female voices, bravely telling it how it is, writing theatre which covered topics not touched on before. These voices started to boom with festivals such as King’s Head’s Playmill.
Some of the most explicit plays have included subjects of sexual assault, trauma/violence against women, female empowerment, unsung and neglected women in history, whose stories have been forgotten or even usurped by men, childbirth, medical matters which particularly impact on the lives of women including some which were little known before. Of course, many other stories and themes are not particularly gender specific, but women put their own spin on such topics as coming of age, midlife crisis, parenthood, familial relationships, mental health and access.
Back in 2010, statistics suggested that only 17 percent of playwrights were women but today, the balance of new writing seems to be pretty much 50/50. Opportunities have really flourish over the last decade. Let us not forget the #MeToo movement (created in 2017) in which women started to talk openly about the sexual harassment that they had experienced. The movement gathered steam in the National Press and showed that times were changing, women were naming and blaming. It proved that we are stronger together and opened the way for women to talk openly about topics which had been unhealthily suppressed. It spawned other campaigns such as ‘Ask Angela’ used in pubs, a discreet way for women to ask pub staff for help if they feel harassed or unsafe. Feminist writers bravely, used their pens to further the cause of opening conversations whilst making entertaining theatre. Of course, it’s not all about driving a change in attitudes, female writers are exploring all kinds of subjects.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
An update of ten writers who were featured in Part I and Part II, is shown below, to find out whether they are they still writing for the stage or concentrating on other avenues for their talents. Here is a cross section including some of the most prolific writers.
THEN
MUMBURGER premiered at The Archivist’s Gallery in July 2016 and transferred to Old Red Lion Theatre in 2017.
NOW
Since its premiere Mumburger has been produced in the USA and Poland with more productions coming in 2025.
ABOUT
Originally from Pennsylvania, Londoner Sarah Kosar is writer, artist and dog trainer. Sarah has multiple writing credits, awards and award nominations for her writing: Old Vic 12 (2017, 2018); Recipient of Tier 1 Exceptional Promise in Playwriting visa; Inaugural Writer in Residence at The Archivist’s Gallery (2017); Two time Longlisted playwright for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and Long listed playwright for Verity Bargate Award at Soho Theatre (2020).
MUMBURGER is an absurdist play with a surreal premise, creating a thoughtful and moving meditation on grief. Kosar’s keen sense of the absurd also results in some hilarious one-liners. Father and daughter Hugh and Tiffany must deal with the sudden death of their wife/mother Andrea. The meat which mysteriously appears after her death turns out to be literally a mumburger. The mother would like them to eat her meat as a spiritual token, but the pair are vegan.
Mumburger by Sarah Kosar at Old Red Lion Theatre
(Image: Lidia Crisafulli)
THEN
WALK SWIFTLY AND WITH PURPOSE premiered at Theatre503 in 2018
NOW
Siofra continues to write for theatre. Her most recent projects are:
EUGENE ONEGIN adaptation of libretto for Wild Arts Opera in 2025. 'Excellent' ★★★★The Times
AFTER SEX at Arcola Theatre in 2024 (for Izzy Parriss Productions/ Three Sisters Productions) This new play breaks stereotypes for Asian actors. 'a quiet, razor-edged masterpiece' ★★★★ Hackney Citizen
ABOUT
Londoner Siofra Dromgoole writes for Theatre, television, Radio and Film.
Image: Antonia Salib and Azan Ahmed in After Sex After Sex at Arcola Theatre 2024
WALK SWIFTLY AND WITH PURPOSE is about four middle class young women on the cusp of adulthood dealing with their friendships, a divorce, a possible love affair and everything in between with humour and a raw unapologetic honesty. They are all insecure and all questioning their role in the world while juggling schoolwork, sexuality, what to wear and what drugs or alcohol to do at the party. Funny, enjoyable and real.
Image: Walk Swiftly and with Purpose at Theatre503 (2018)
THEN
BLOOD, SWEAT AND VAGINAS premiered at Bread and Roses Theatre 2018.
NOW
Currently, she is concentrating on creating children's theatre. Her show WINDRUSH ADVENTURES toured in Autumn 2024/5 including Hammersmith lyric.
ABOUT
Londoner Paula David is an actor, poet, singer/songwriter, playwright,director and lecturer. She is also a reviewer for London Pub Theatres Magazine. Her plays have been performed at Brighton festival, Camden Festival, Fly Festival Bristol, Nottingham Playhouse, Arnofini Arts centre in Bristol, Soho Theatre, Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh, among others. She had her first commission from The Royal Court Theatre to write a short play for the Borough of Culture Listen Local project. It was performed over four weekends September 2019.
Image: Paula David in Windrush Adventures
BLOOD, SWEAT, AND VAGINAS debunks the myth that a mid-life crisis is the domain of men only. It is a joyous, heartfelt, and compassionate look at mid-life crisis from the perspective of a black woman trying to make sense of getting older and having fun while doing it.
Image: Paula David performing in Blood, Sweat and Vaginas
THEN
THE STATE VS JOHN HAYES premiered at King’s Head Theatre in 2015 and won the Argus Angel for Artistic Excellence.
NOW
Lucy Roslyn is continues her career as writer/performer. Her most recent play LOVETT touring the UK after its premiere at Edinburgh Fringe in 2025.
ABOUT
Multi award winning playwright and actor Lucy Roslyn is based in the Midlands. She continues to write for theatre, with her company BOONDOG THEATRE (founded 2012). Recent plays which have also garnered much critical acclaim include, PISKIE (Edinburgh Summerhall & Bristol Old Vic 2024) and PENNYROYAL (Finborough Theatre 2022).
Lucy Roslyn in LOVETT (Photo: Andrew Perry)
THE STATE VS JOHN HAYES is a psychological thriller spliced with dark humour. The play is in real time and gives us one hour with killer, Elyese Dukie in Huntsville prison, Texas; a woman on death row, telling us her last thoughts. Tomorrow, she goes to court for the last time. But tonight, Elyese reveals the one thing she won’t tell the court, or the string of psychiatrists sent to diagnose her that she is not alone in her cell. This woman’s oftentimes insistence on referring to herself as John Hayes and her embodiment of this male persona, is completely convincing in its gender fluidity. Psychopath or seductress? Murderer or manipulator? Psychiatric hospital or the electric chair? What does she deserve?
THEN
THE BUZZ premiered at Bread & Roses Theatre 2018 - it was runner up for Bread and Roses Playwriting Award in 2017.
HEAR ME HOWL premiered at Old Red Lion September 2018
NOW
She is currently concentrating on her successful screenwriting career.
ABOUT
Originally from Bournemouth, Londoner Lydia Rynne is an award-winning screenwriter and graduate of the National Film and Television School. She began her career in theatre working in script development in the West End. An alumnus of the Royal Court and Soho Theatre writers’ groups, her first play HEAR ME HOWL was a Time Out Top Pick of VAULT Festival and was described by The Stage as ‘brutally funny and refreshing.’
THE BUZZ is a dark comedy exploring the seduction of fame, overnight celebrity culture and the injustices we disregard in favour of our own success. It takes the audience in some unexpected directions, and each part of the journey is compelling, giving vent to the anger around the #Me Too Movement.
HEAR ME HOWL celebrates freedom and empowerment through a ferociously funny, though slightly unsurprising, monologue. Nevertheless, the play is part of the larger canon of feminist work challenging the status quo that still sees motherhood and womanhood as going hand in hand.
Image: Alice Carter-Pitt in Hear Me Howl
THEN
UNSUNG by Lisa Holdsworth premiered at Kings Head Theatre 2019. Her stage adaptation of Adelle Stripes’ novel Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile about the life of northern playwright Andrea Dunbar also opened in 2019 and was included in the Observer critics’ review of the top 10 theatre shows of 2019.
NOW
Yorkshire born Lisa Holdsworth is a BAFTA nominated television writer. She is developing several original TV pilot scripts and treatments.
ABOUT
Lisa’s TV writing career started with a 50-minute stand-alone episode for Fat Friends. She was then was part of the Emmerdale writing team for several years before going on to write numerous episodes of dramas including New Tricks, Robin Hood, Midsomer Murders and Waterloo Road, as well as radio and stage work. She won the Writer of the Year award in the RTS Yorkshire Awards 2011 for her 90-minute opener for Series 4 of Waterloo Road. More recently she’s written episodes of Call the Midwife, All Creatures Great and Small and A Discovery of Witches (on which she was co-showrunner on Series 3). She created, executive produced, and wrote several episodes for Channel 4’s series Dreamers, broadcast in 2025.
UNSUNG shows how history is haunted by the silent voices of unsung women. Her play highlights the stories of four underrepresented women of exceptional note, Ada Lovelace, Sophia Jex-Blake, Lilian Bader and Andrea Dunbar. Never heard of them? Exactly!
THEN
SCROUNGER at Finborough Theatre 2020.
NOW
Londoner Athena Stevens continues to write plays. Her most recent play DIAGNOSIS at The Finborough (2025) won LPT Standing Ovation Award for 'raising awareness'.
ABOUT
Londoner Athena Stevens is an acclaimed writer, performer, director, social activist, and academic. She is the Artistic Director of Aegis Productions, writer on attachment at the Finborough Theatre, and Master of Liberal Arts (Psychology) researcher concentrated on the mind and brain.
Image: Athena Stevens in DIAGNOSIS at Finborough Theatre
SCROUNGER refuses to pander to the audience and will leave them questioning themselves afterwards. It has some great moments of humour and two cracking performances based on Stevens’ experiences of her disgraceful treatment by an airline, who forcibly removed her from a flight because they said they could not accommodate her wheelchair (yet they had been warned in advance). In removing the wheelchair, worth £30,000, they caused irrevocable damage to that too.
THEN
COCKAMAMY previewed at Camden Fringe 2016 and transferred to Lion and Unicorn 2017/The Hope Theatre 2018.
NOW
Louise Coulthard continues with her career as writer, including copy and content writing.
ABOUT
Louise Coulthard is a multi-award-winning writer living in Hastings. Originally a writer for stage and screen, she’s also a copy/content writer with 6+ years of experience. Her first article was for The Independent in 2018 and since then she’s written web copywriting, social media marketing, blogs, high-quality SEO-friendly content and several articles for Get Hastings.
Based on a true story, Louise Coulthard’s sell-out award-winning debut play, COCKAMAMMY is a tender portrayal of what it is to have dementia and care for someone living with the disease.
THEN
VICKI AND PAT IN FUERTEVENTURA by Ellen Chivers (Hen & Chicken Theatre June 2018 and on tour
NOW
Two hander, Vicki and Pat in Fuerteventura has continued to tour and transferred to Theatre503 in 2024 with Ellen co-acting. She also does voice work from her own professional home studio in the Midlands.
ABOUT
Northampton based Ellen Chivers is a Playwright and actor. Commercials, Theatre and Corporate work, RP / Midlands twang accent with huge versatility.
VICKI AND PAT IN FUERTEVENTURA is comedy with a hint of sadness. It features a Yorkshire lass sunbathing on holiday in Fuerteventura (with her husband, who is away scuba diving). Enter Pat Acock who throws a whole gateau all over her and the sun-lounger. Not a great start when all Vicky wants to do is read Kimberley Walsh’s autobiography. As they spend more time with each other it becomes clear that Pat remembers Vicky from school, a bitter-sweet reunion now the girls are all grown up.
THEN
OOPSY DAISY at Katzpace Theatre November 2019. The play won an OffComm Award and was a finalist for Best Comedy at the London Pub Theatre Awards in 2020.
NOW
Whilst Katzpace venue is no longer open, Holly McFarlane continues to write for theatre. Her most recent writing WE THREE, a play about the witches from Macbeth navigating life in modern-day Scotland, was shortlisted for the St Andrews Playwriting Award.
ABOUT
Holly McFarlane is actor, and a Creative Producer & Associate Writer for Red Squash Theatrical Storytelling. Holly has an MA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Acting from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Theatre credits as a writer include: WE THREE (Red Squash Theatre), OOPSY DAISY (Red Squash Theatre), THE EBONY FRAME (part of TRILOGY OF HORRORS II, Tumble Dry Theatre), NUTS (Theatre N16) and STUFFED (Red Squash Theatre, co-written with Lucy Joy Russell). Theatre credits as an actor include: TRILOGY OF ROMANCE (Tumble Dry Theatre), STUFFED (Red Squash Theatre), MACBEETH: A COMEDY (Red Squash Theatre), CHEW (Red Squash Theatre), INJURIES OF CLASS (Cut Throat Theatre), OTHELLO (Erratic Dramatics), ADAM’S EVE (Blued Ink Theatre), A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (On the Verge Festival).
OOPSY DAISY explores the topic of sexual abuse and power in relationships. Pithy and punchy it explores its subjects intelligently and sensitively, managing to do this whilst also being very funny.
Image: Rory Fairbairn and Holly McFarlane in Oopsy Daisy
THEN
Laura McGrady's debut play BABY BOX premiered at King's Head Theatre in 2018 and transferred to The York Theatre Royal.
NOW
Laura is currently a screen writer. Her award winning short film
Wolf
which was starring Alexa Davies, recently finished a hugely successful festival run. Premiering at the prestigious
BFI Flare, it has since been screened at festivals all over the world.
ABOUT
Originally from Newcastle, Laura McGrady currently lives in London. Comedy is at the heart of everything Laura does and her work aims to lower your guard with laughs before hitting you with a big feely gut punch. As a queer neurodiverse writer her work draws from her lived experiences, with queer characters often at the centre. When she’s not writing she can be found playing football or playing pretend at improv. Laura trained in acting at The Oxford School of Drama before completing her Masters in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media at The Royal Central School for Speech and Drama.
She is a BAFTA Connect member and a member of the WGGB.
BABY BOX raises the awareness of the much-misunderstood women’s disease endometriosis which results in chronic period pain.
Image: Laura McGrady and Sarah Cullum starring in Baby Box
The selection chosen does seem to remind us that the job of playwright doesn't exist as earning money exclusively from writing for theatre isn't usually possible and writers are often also actors, and turn to other media to expand their writing experience. It's also often been said that anyone who can write well for theatre is likely to be in demand as the skills learnt are very valuable. In PART IV, we take a look at the last five years to discover what women want to say through their writing now, with an added section on LPT magazine's critics top 20 female writers.
