Kay Adshead
Writer
Film, TV & Theatre
Kay Adshead is a poet, playwright, theatre maker, performer and producer.
She trained at RADA as an actress, where she won the Emile Littler Award for Outstanding Talent. She has played leading roles in film, theatre and TV, including Cathy in the BBC classic series Wuthering Heights, Linda in Mike Leigh’s film Kiss of Death, Viola in Twelfth Night, Betty in Touched and singing the role of Clara Twain in White Suit Blues, at The Old Vic. She learnt to wrestle for the role of Tanzi in Trafford Tanzi at The Mermaid, as well as countless appearances in popular TV programs spanning 30 years.
As a writer, she has been nominated 3 times for The Susan Smith Blackburn Award. She has written over 25 plays. She has beenpublished by Methuen, Faber and Faber, and Oberon, with commissions and/or productions at The Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, The Young Vic, The Roundhouse, The Tricycle, The Bush, Soho Theatre, The Cockpit, The Arcola, Theatre503, The Omnibus, and many more.
Alex Sierz of The Tribune describes her as” the great survivor”, and The Times reviewed her play I am Sad you are dead Mrs. T as “a poetic mortar bomb.” She has just returned from New York, where her new (American race/guns) play, Entering Incomplete Map Data, was presented as a staged reading, with esteemed activist group #Sayhername as guests in our audience. In February 2019, the Last Little Girl tackling sex trafficking, was performed at Match, Houston Texas, and Kay was awarded a Purposeful Artist Award. In April 2019, Kay devised and directed Section 28 and The Queer State, produced by Jacksons Lane Alexandra Palace and Mama Quilla, It was performed as an epic promenade around The Alexandra Palace ending in the iconic Victorian Theatre.
In 1999 with Lucinda Gane, she co-founded award-winning theatre company Mama Quilla, winning amongst other awards, Edinburgh Fringe First, Adelaide Fringe Sensation Award, Adelaide Best Fringe Performance Award, M.E.N. best Fringe Performance, nominated for an E.M.M.A and Encore Magazine best Play of the Year. She has devised and directed more than 10, experimental and live art projects for Mama Quilla (many with casts of over 30) working in hard to reach communities, including maximum security prisons.
She has written and directed her first short film (made in New York) The Count and is in pre-production for her second The Driflin’ to be shot on the Bolivar Peninsula in 2019 for Stingaree productions.
In Development
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
PRELUDE 2020 | STINGAREE PRODUCTIONS | Short film in post-production |
2019 | STINGAREE PRODUCTIONS | Short film (writer/ director) |
THE WORKING CLASS PROJECT (PART 2) 2019 | MAMA QUILLA (AND PARTNERS TBA) | Three short plays - writer/director |
ENTERING INCOMPLETE MAP DATA AREA 2017 | Full length theatre version (writer) | |
WOMAN IN WARD 4 2017 | Book 1, The Kill Buyer – a novella in verse (writer) | |
THE TOUPE (working title) 2017 | short film (writer/director) | |
MAIA SENT FOR WATER (working title) 2017 | Short film (writer/director) | |
La Compagnie Yorick/Mama Quilla | Part of the Soho Project |
Radio
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
HANGING 2002 | BBC Radio 4 | Produced by Catherine Bailey |
OF THE END | BBC Radio 3 | Homage to Samuel Beckett. Writer and Performer. |
THE BOGUS WOMAN 2001 | BBC Radio 3 | Produced by Catherine Bailey |
Short Films
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
THE COUNT | Written and directed by Kay Adshead | |
THE LAST LITTLE GIRL | Written by Kay Adshead, dir. by Quason Matthews | |
THREE LOTUS FLOWERS | SheSpeaks Productions | Adapted from theatre poem written by Kay Adshead, directed by Eugenia Low |
AFTER THE PARTY | Club X/Channel 4 | |
ORANGES AND LEMONS | BBC City Shorts |
Theatre
| Production | Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|
STORMY THE OPERA (a bricolage) 2020 | STINGAREE | Created as an online production https://youtu.be/QwcZGMCA9TE live-streamed on Youtube on October 3 2020. Funded by Houston Arts alliance. |
STORMY THE OPERA 2019 | STINGAREE PRODUCTIONS | Performed at MATCH Houston Texas November 2019. Written and directed by Kay Adshead. |
THE QUEER STATE 2019 | Alexandra Palace, Mama Quilla | Experimental performance inspired by LGBTQIA experience, |
HARINGEY HAS PRIDE: SECTION 28 AND THE QUEER STATE 2019 | Jackson’s Lane / Harringay Council / Alexandra Palace | Promenade performance at Alexandra Palace as part of Jacksons Lane ‘Haringey Has Pride’ |
THE LAST LITTLE GIRL 2019 | Houston Play on Purpose / MATCH Houston | written and directed by Kay Adshead as part of Houston Play on Purpose's Showcase of Shorts (S.O.S) |
TEN LOVERS 2018 | Anything Goes | written and directed by Kay Adshead |
HISTRIONICS 2018 | Mama Quilla productions | written and directed by Kay Adshead |
VIRILICUS 2018 | Mama Quilla / Theatre Absolute, Coventry | |
A CRACKED PLASTER 2017 | FUTURES | Written and Directed by Kay Adshead |
WORKING CLASS 2017 | Mama Quilla / Broadway Theatre | A Play in a Day workshop, as director |
ACTS OF DEFIANCE - THE FESTIVAL 2016 | Mama Quilla and Theatre 503 | A weeklong festival produced by Kay Adshead comprising – six new plays by various authors, inc. Entering Incomplete Map Data Area , written and directed by Kay Adshead, 25 specially commissioned short films, including The Count , written and dir. Kay Adshead, and two work-in-progress community projects, including The Soldiers Son , written and directed by Kay Adshead. |
ACTS OF DEFIANCE 2016 | Mama Quilla & the Omnibus | Three Plays written by Kay Adshead: |
ACTS OF DEFIANCE 2015 | Mama Quilla and Theatre 503 | Three short plays written and directed by Kay Adshead including Primrose , The Singing Stones , Mama Quilla , written and directed by Kay Adshead, performed at the Arcola Theatre with a cast of nine women and one man. |
VEIL 2014 - 2015 | Mama Quilla | A theatre poem by Kay Adshead, directed by Kully Thiarai and performed |
HAPPY ENDING 2013 | Natural Shocks/PEEP | Performed at Edinburgh's most intimate venue |
I AM SAD YOU ARE DEAD MRS T 2013 | Theatre 503 | Three Eulogies written for THATCHERWRITE |
F.O.M.O 2013 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre Barking | An interactive performance about social networking written and directed by Kay Adshead |
ACTS OF DEFIANCE 2013 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre Barking | A series of short films, public interactions or interventions (ongoing to be published on line September 2013) devised , written or produced by Kay Adshead. Ten monologues filmed separately were performed as an epic poetry theatre event at the Broadway Barking for one night only. |
MATTER 2012 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre Barking | Written and directed by Kay Adshead performed as work in progress |
FROM THE STREETS OF REVOLUTION 2012 | Roundhouse | A day of debate and performance - a series of linked events exploring recent global events and the nature of protest. |
2011 | John Lyons Theatre | Work in progress transferring to Camden Fringe. |
IF ANYONE RECOGNISES THESE YOUNG PEOPLE 2011 | Mama Quilla | Performed in workshop at the Broadway Theatre Barking to be performed at The Round House in 2012. |
2011 | La Compagnie Yorick/Theatre Vitry at Cine Robespierre | Dir. Michael Batz |
BOYS TALKING 2010 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre, Barking | Devised and directed by Kay Adshead |
SWEET PAPAYA GOLD 2010 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre, Barking | Devised and directed by Kay Adshead. |
2010 | The Red Room/Jellyfish Theatre | The Oikos Project was shortlisted for the Whats On Theatre event of the year. PROTOZOA was performed at The Jellyfish Theatre, the first fully recyclable theatre in Europe. Published by Oberon Books in THE OIKOS PROJECT. |
THREE POLICE STATEMENTS TAKEN FROM WORKING GIRLS 2010 | Mama Quilla with The English Collective of Prostitues and The City Lit | |
POSSESSED 2009 | Soho Theatre Company | Part of Everything Must Go |
FIVE CRIMES RECONSTRUCTED 2009 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre, Barking | Devised and directed by Kay Adshead |
STUFFED 2008 | Mama Quilla/Broadway Theatre, Barking | Devised and directed by Kay Adshead |
OTHERS 2008 | LAMDA | Part of LAMDA Long Project. |
BONES 2007 | Calypso, Dublin/La Compagnie Yorick | |
BONES 2006 | Mama Quilla/Leicester Haymarket/Bush | Writer and Director |
THE BOGUS WOMAN 2005 | Leicester Haymarket | Dir. Kully Thiarai. Toured to Adelaide where it was awarded Best Performer, Best Play and the Sensation Award at the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Also Brits Off Brodway (New York). |
BITES 2005 | Mama Quilla/Bush Theatre | Writer and Director. Finalist for Susan Smith Blackburn Award. |
ANIMAL 2003 | The Red Room | Dir. Lisa Goldman. Soho Theatre/National Tour. |
METAL AND FEATHERS 2003 | Cockpit Theatre | Part of 'Small Objects of Desire' |
THE SNOW EGG 2001 | Tiebreak Theatre/Lyric Studio | Tour, ending at Lyric Theatre Studio, Hammersmith. |
LADY CHILL, LADY WAD, LADY LURVE, LADY GOD 2001 | National Theatre | Shell Connections |
THE BOGUS WOMAN 2000 | Mama Quilla/Traverse Theatre/Bush Theatre | Dir. Lisa Goldman. 2000 Fringe First Award. Nominated for 2001 Susan Smith Blackburn Award. |
BOGUS PEOPLE'S POEM 2000 | The Red Room/BAC | |
JUICY BITS 1998 | Lyric, Hammersmith | |
BACILLUS 1996 | The Red Room | Performed at the Red Room following rehearsed readings at the Cockpit and Hampstead theatres |
THE SLUG SABBATICAL 1995 | The Red Room | |
RAVINGS: DREAMINGS 1993 | Manchester Library | |
THE STILL BORN 1993 | Soho Theatre | |
THATCHER'S WOMEN 1987 | Paines Plough/Tricycle Theatre | Nominated for Susan Smith Blackburn Award |
FEARS AND MISERIES OF THE THIRD TERM 1987 |