Helen Edmundson

Helen Edmundson's first play, Flying, was presented at the National Theatre Studio in 1990. In 1992, she adapted Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for Shared Experience, for whom she also adapted The Mill on the Floss in 1994. Both won awards – the TMA and the Time Out Awards respectively – and both productions were twice revived and extensively toured.

Shared Experience also staged her original adaptation of War and Peace at the National Theatre in 1996, and toured her adaptations of Mary Webb's Gone to Earth in 2004, Euripides' Orestes in 2006, the new two-part version of War and Peace in 2008, and the original play Mary Shelley in 2012.

Her original play The Clearing was first staged at the Bush Theatre in 1993, winning the John Whiting and Time Out Awards, Mother Teresa is Dead was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 2002 and The Heresy of Love was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in the Swan Theatre in 2012.

Her adaptation of Jamila Gavin's Coram Boy premiered at the National Theatre to critical acclaim in 2005, receiving a Time Out Award. It was subsequently revived in 2006, and produced on Broadway in 2007. She adapted Calderón’s Life is a Dream for the Donmar Warehouse in 2009, and Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons for the Bristol Old Vic in 2010, which subsequently transferred to the West End before embarking on a national tour in 2012.

Her adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin was premiered by the Theatre Royal, Bath, in 2014, and was subsequently produced on Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company in 2015.

Her original play, Queen Anne, was commissioned and premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2015, and her adaptation of Andrea Levy's Small Island was staged by the National Theatre in 2019, revived in 2022.

She was awarded the 2015 Windham Campbell Prize for Drama.

A classic from the Spanish Golden Age, Calderón's richly poetic, epic masterpiece explores illusion, reality, fate an...
Helen Edmundson's celebrated adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's enduring classic is a vibrant and deeply moving meditation o...
A wonderfully theatrical adaptation of the much-loved children's classic, with songs by Neil Hannon.
A re-invention of George Eliot's classic story of loss, tragedy and the relentless nature of fate.
A powerful play about the effects of Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland.
A magnificent two-play epic, adapted from Tolstoy's novel and first staged by Shared Experience.
A gripping play exploring Western guilt towards the Third World, from an author well-known for her award-winning adap...
A vivid, emotional stage version of Mary Webb's novel of rural passion, premiered by Shared Experience Theatre Compan...
A heartbreaking tale of orphans, angels, murder and music - dramatised from the Whitbread award-winning novel set in...
An explosive retelling of the most savage and powerful of ancient myths - the story of avenging siblings, Electra and...
A biographical play about Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. Premiered by Shared Experience.
A story of lust, madness and destruction set in the backstreets of Paris. Based on Emile Zola's classic novel.
A powerful drama based on the extraordinary life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a poet, nun and major literary figure...
Helen Edmundson's gripping play tells the little-known story of a monarch caught between friendship and duty.
A stage version of Andrea Levy's epic novel tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain - set text edition for...