Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright,

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. ...

and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen.

Early life

Edmundson was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, in 1964. Most of her childhood was spent on the Wirral and in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

. Edmundson studied drama at Manchester University. After her studies, Edmundson acted with Red Stockings, a female agit-prop company, for whom she wrote the musical comedy ''Ladies in the Lift'' in 1988. This was her first solo attempt at writing for the stage. After leaving Red Stockings, she acted throughout northwest England.

Theatre

1990s

Edmundson's first play ''Flying'' was produced at the National Theatre Studio in 1990. In 1992, her adaptation of '' Anna Karenina'', produced by Shared Experience, won a

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an engine ...

Award and a

TMA Award The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional theat ...

; the production toured nationally and internationally. In 1993, Edmundson's original play ''The Clearing'', which won the John Whiting Award, was staged 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 s ...

. In 1994, her adaptation of '' The Mill on the Floss'' was also produced by Shared Experience, again touring nationally and internationally; Edmundson won a Time Out Award for ''The Clearing'' and ''The Mill on the Floss''. In 1996, Shared Experience staged her adaptation of '' War and Peace'' at the National Theatre in a production starring BAFTA Award-nominee

Anne-Marie Duff Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an Irish actress and narrator. She is an accomplished theatre actress and has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. She has also received acclaim and awards for her television and film work. After ...

; the play was nominated for a Writers' Guild Award for Best Play.

2000s

In 2002, Edmundson's play ''Mother Teresa is Dead'' was produced at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2004, her adaptation of ''Gone to Earth'' was produced by Shared Experience at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour; it was nominated for a

. Edmundson's adaptation of ''

Coram Boy ''Coram Boy'' is a 2000 children's novel by Jamila Gavin. It won Gavin a Whitbread Children's Book Award. Stage adaptation The book was adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, with music by Adrian Sutton, and played for two runs on the Ol ...

'' premiered at the National Theatre in November 2005, starring Olivier Award-winner

Bertie Carvel Robert Hugh Carvel (born 6 September 1977) is a British actor. He has twice won a Laurence Olivier Award: for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role as Miss Trunchbull in '' Matilda the Musical'', and for Best Actor in a Suppor ...

and

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

-nominee

Paul Ritter Simon Paul Adams (20 December 1966 – 5 April 2021), known professionally as Paul Ritter, was an English actor. He had roles in films including ''Son of Rambow'' (2007), ''Quantum of Solace'' (2008), ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' ...

; Edmundson received a Time Out Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award. ''Coram Boy'' was named by the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' as one of the fifty best plays of the century, and became used as a set text in A-Level Drama and Theatre Studies. The play came back for a revival at the same venue a year later, again starring Carvel. Her adaptation of '' Orestes'', toured in the UK and played at the Tricycle Theatre with Shared Experience in 2006. ''Coram Boy'' was revived at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway in 2007, starring

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winner Uzo Aduba and Tony Award-nominee Jan Maxwell, receiving six Tony Award nominations. In 2008, Edmundson amended her adaptation of ''War and Peace'', turning it into a two-part play; this production was staged by Shared Experience and Nottingham Playhouse before touring. In the same year, her musical adaptation of '' Zorro'' was produced at the Garrick Theatre, starring Olivier Award-winner Lesli Margherita and Olivier Award-nominee Emma Williams; Edmundson was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Musical. In 2009, Edmundson's adaptation of '' Life Is a Dream'' was produced at the Donmar Warehouse, starring BAFTA Award-winner Dominic West.

2010s

In 2010, Edmundson's musical adaptation of '' Swallows and Amazons'' was first produced at the Bristol Old Vic, directed by Tony Award-winner Tom Morris. The next year, the show transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre; the play was nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award. Edmundson took part in the

's 2011 project ''

Sixty-Six Books ''Sixty-Six Books'' was a set of plays premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011, to mark the theatre's reopening on a new site and the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. It drew its title from the 66 books of the Protestant Bibl ...

'', for which artists wrote a piece based upon a book of the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...

; Edmundson wrote a piece entitled ''In the night, a promise'', based on '' Zephaniah''. The same year, her adaptation of ''Coram Boy'' was revived at the Bristol Old Vic. In 2012, her play about Juana Inés de la Cruz, ''

The Heresy of Love ''The Heresy of Love'' is a 2012 play by the British playwright Helen Edmundson, based on the life of Juana Inés de la Cruz. It was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in early 2012, with a cast including Ray Coulthard and directed by Nanc ...

'', was produced by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

at the

Swan Theatre The Swan was a theatre in Southwark, London, England, built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. It was the fifth in the series of large public playhouses of London, af ...

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

. The same year, Edmundson's adaptation of ''Swallows and Amazons'' was revived for a national tour. Also in 2012, Edmundson's play ''Mary Shelley'' was produced on a nationwide tour, including the Tricycle Theatre and the Liverpool Playhouse, by Shared Experience. In 2013, her adaptation of '' Mephisto'' was produced at the Altonaer Theater in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

. In 2014, Edmundson's adaptation of the novel '' Thérèse Raquin'' was produced at the Theatre Royal, Bath, starring Olivier Award-winners Alison Steadman and Desmond Barrit. In 2015, ''The Heresy of Love'' was revived for a run at Shakespeare's Globe. Edmundson's adaptation of ''Thérèse Raquin'' was produced by Roundabout Theatre Company at

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater w ...

on Broadway from 2015 to 2016, starring

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominee Keira Knightley and Tony Award-winner Judith Light; the play was nominated for Outstanding New Broadway Play at the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Awards. Simultaneously, the RSC premiered her play '' Queen Anne'' in Stratford. In 2017, the RSC produced ''Queen Anne'' at the

Theatre Royal Haymarket The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foot ...

, starring Golden Globe-winner Romola Garai. In 2019, Edmundson's adaptation of '' Small Island'' was produced at the National Theatre, directed by its artistic director, Olivier Award-nominee Rufus Norris. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' called the play one of the top two theatre shows of 2019.

2020s

In March 2022, Edmundson's adaptation of ''Small Island'' was revived at the National Theatre.

Film and television

Edmundson has written two short films for television: ''One Day'', broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

in July 1991, and ''Stella'' for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. In 2015, she wrote two episodes of ITV drama '' The Suspicions of Mr Whicher'', ''Beyond the Pale'' and ''The Ties that Bind'', starring BAFTA Award-winners Paddy Considine and

Tim Pigott-Smith Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith, (13 May 1946 – 7 April 2017) was an English film and television actor and author. He was best known for his leading role as Ronald Merrick in the television drama series '' The Jewel in the Crown'', for which he wo ...

. In September of the same year, Edmundson's feature-length adaptation of '' An Inspector Calls'', starring BAFTA Award-winners David Thewlis and

Miranda Richardson Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English actress. She made her film debut playing Ruth Ellis in '' Dance with a Stranger'' (1985) and went on to receive Academy Award nominations for '' Damage'' (1992) and ''Tom & Viv'' (1994). ...

, was broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

; the programme won the 2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Single Drama and was nominated for two 2016

British Academy Television Craft Awards The British Academy Television Craft Awards is an accolade presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), a charitable organisation established in 1947, which: "supports, promotes and develops the art forms of the moving imag ...

. In 2018, Edmundson wrote the film ''

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

'', which was directed by Emmy Award-nominee Garth Davis and starred Academy Award-nominees Rooney Mara and

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

. She is adapting the novel ''The Awkward Age'', to be broadcast by the BBC. She wrote the first two series of crime drama '' Dalgliesh'', first broadcast on Channel 5 and

Acorn TV The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

and starring

as the title character, and is executive producing the second series. She is currently working as writer, executive producer and showrunner of ''

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of both the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a danger ...

: The Next Chapter'', to be broadcast in 2023.

Radio

Edmundson has adapted numerous literary classics for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

, including '' The Voyage Out'' in 2006, ''

The Mayor of Casterbridge ''The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character'' is an 1886 novel by the English author Thomas Hardy. One of Hardy's Wessex novels, it is set in a fictional rural England with Casterbridge standing in for Dorchester in D ...

'' in 2008, '' Anna of the Five Towns'' in 2011 and '' Sense and Sensibility'' in 2013.

Awards and honours

Edmundson has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 2015. *1992

Time Out Award Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

for ''Anna Karenina'' *1992

for ''Anna Karenina'' *1993 John Whiting Award winner for ''The Clearing'' *1994

for ''The Clearing'' and ''The Mill on the Floss'' *Nomination: 1996 Writers' Guild Award for Best Play for ''War and Peace'' *Nomination: 2004

for Best Touring Production for ''Gone to Earth'' *2005

for ''

'' *Nomination: 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play for ''

'' *Nomination: 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical for '' Zorro'' *Nomination: 2012 Evening Standard Theatre Awards' Ned Sherrin Award for Best Musical for ''Swallows and Amazons'' *2015 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (Drama) *2016 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Single Drama for '' An Inspector Calls''

References

External links

* *Brian Logan
"Helen Edmundson: the hit woman"

, 15 March 2012. *Barbara Slaughter
"An interview with Helen Edmundson, author of ''Mary Shelley''"
World Socialist Web Site, 13 June 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmundson, Helen Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Writers from Liverpool British women dramatists and playwrights Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1964 births British women screenwriters British screenwriters 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British women writers Alumni of the University of Manchester British radio writers Women radio writers British television writers British women television writers British television producers