'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
Industry Reviews
'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 *
'This poetically messy, brilliantly clever piece of work has an epic beauty... fractures, stumbles over and twists literary and societal structures like a modern-day Orlando... Hickson's a genius'
* Exeunt Magazine *
'Riveting... Playful and impassioned... Above all, the play is asking a big question: do we need new theatrical forms to reflect a society in the midst of a sexual revolution? Hickson's approach is witty, clever and keeps the ground shifting under one's feet'
* Guardian *
