Ella Road (née Waldman, born 1991) is a British

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. She is best known for her stage-play '' The Phlebotomist''.

Career

Road grew up in Archway and attended

Dame Alice Owen's School Dame Alice Owen's School (also known as Dame Alice Owen's or Owen's; referred to by the acronym DAOS) is an 11–18 mixed, partially selective secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. It i ...

, a state school in Potters Bar. She studied English at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, and then earned a postgraduate degree in acting from

Oxford School of Drama The Oxford School of Drama is a drama school in the United Kingdom. It is based at Wootton, ten miles north of Oxford. The school is an independent, vocational drama school which runs a three-year acting course and a one-year acting course, bot ...

. According to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', Road began writing her first play soon after completing her acting training in order to find more creative agency.

Theatre

In 2018 Road's debut play '' The Phlebotomist'' premiered at Hampstead Theatre, directed by Sam Yates and starring

Jade Anouka Jade Anouka (born 12 June 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her various stage roles and for her appearances in ''His Dark Materials'' on BBC One and the ITV dramas ''Trauma'' and '' Cleaning Up''. Early life and education Anouka wa ...

. The play is work of science-fiction exploring questions around genetic ethics. In 2019 ''The Phlebotomist'' received an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Later that year Road adapted it into a

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. In 2020 the play was translated into German under the title ''Die Laborantin'', leading to productions across Germany and Austria, and it became the most performed new play in the German language of 2021. In December 2021 Road's play ''Fair Play'' premiered at the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a spa ...

, produced in association with Sonia Friedman Productions. ''Fair Play'' explores the scrutinisation of women's bodies in sport, focusing on the experience of women athletes banned under

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

guidelines for having naturally elevated testosterone levels. In writing the script Road drew on her own experience as a competitive runner, and also developed the play in partnership with

Intersex UK Intersex UK is an organisation by and for intersex people (those born with differences of sex development or variations of sex anatomy) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Intersex UK works to protect the bodily autonomy and civil rights of inter ...

. The international release of a filmed online stream of the production was announced for 2022.

Television

Road wrote two episodes of ''

Ten Percent ''Ten Percent'' is the debut studio album recorded by American male vocal quartet Double Exposure, released in 1976 on the Salsoul label. History The album features the title track, which peaked at No.2 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, No. 54 on ...

'', the British remake of the French comedy series ''

Call My Agent! ''Call My Agent!'' (french: Dix pour cent, lit=Ten Percent) is a French comedy-drama television series that premiered on France 2 on 14 October 2015. The series depicts talent agents at the fictional agency ASK (''Agence Samuel Kerr'') and their ...

'' on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

. Road co-wrote, alongside Chris Chibnall, "

Legend of the Sea Devils "Legend of the Sea Devils" is the second of the 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was broadcast on BBC One on 17 April 2022. The episode was written by Ella Road and Chris Chibnall, and dir ...

", the second episode of the 2022 specials for ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Road, Ella 1991 births Living people 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century British women writers British television writers British women dramatists and playwrights British women television writers 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights