doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Penelope Skinner

PENELOPE SKINNER

  
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    United Agents  represented by Giles Smart

Penelope's new play, the VILLAGE BIKE, will play at the Royal Court in the summer of 2011. the play also won the 2011 George Devine Award. Her original sitcom, UNDER-ACHIEVERS, is under option to Great Meadow Productions. She is also writing an episode of FRESH MEAT, the new Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong series for Objective Productions / ChAnnel 4. In 2010, Penelope was invited to take part in the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writers' Supergroup and she was also selected to be one of six writers on the 2009 Future Perfect scheme at Paines Plough. Penelope's first play, FUCKED, opened at the Old Red Lion in 2008, was a sell-out smash hit and Critics' Choice in TIME OUT. the play made a triumphant return to the 2009 Edinburgh Festival.

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Penelope Skinner's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         ABGELEHNT         Bytes         Come to Where I am From         Correction Method         Don't Look Back         DryFIGHT         Eigengrau         Evening With the Sisters Fortescue, An         Fred's Diner         Fucked         Greenland         Internet Shorts         Letters From the Goblin Market         Linda         Literary Ball, The         One in Five         Promise, The         Runaround, The         Scarlet's Circus         Sound Of Heavy Rain         Stationary         Traces         Untitled Play         Village Bike, The

ABGELEHNT

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Graz Theatre Festival, Austria     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Bytes

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of Rough Cuts. Four new short plays by Alia Bano, DC Moore, Nick Payne and Penelope Skinner examining and exploring our relationship to the internet. With multiple platforms on which to share our thoughts and say what we think, what is freedom of speech on the internet?

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Come to Where I am From

Synopsis:
Sixty one playwrights from across the UK return to their home towns to write plays about the places that shaped them. At 14 theatres from Bristol to Belfast, Cardiff to Coventry and Nottingham to Newcastle, these plays will be performed by the playwrights themselves, coming home to tell their tale. Come To Where I'm From is a theatrical tapestry of the UK, woven by writers asking if home is really where the heart is.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Paines Plough

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Correction Method

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
devised/collaborative work

1st Produced:
Blue Hug Theatre Company / Young Vic Theatre     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
devised

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Don't Look Back

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
ATC (Actors Touring Company)

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

DryFIGHT

Synopsis:
It's ingeniously simple. they perform twice over the weekend: each performance features four short scenes of fights, all of them beginning verbally and becoming physical. At the start of the show every audience member is given four simple coloured paper hats. Before each scene begins we are introduced via the booming PA system to each of the characters it will involve - they strut onto stage, pose and flex and grimace like Mickey Rourke, and we don a hat of a certain colour to "cast our vote" on that particular character coming out on top. Of course this is before we know anything about the nature of each fight, so it's interesting in theory to wonder what makes us side with one character over another purely on first glance. Do the women go for the women? Do we back the scrawnier man to try and predict the unpredictable? Which of the nuns looks the most muscular? As it is though, there are few easily apparent trends. All our attention really is focused on screaming out our support of whoever we have arbitrarily chosen to back. This is theatre for closet wrestling fans, quite excessively happy to suddenly be encouraged to watch Drama and make noise. As an experience it's infectious - but I fear not to be too often repeated, as only certain contexts allow it to work. I also wonder how long before the concept becomes stale - once you have seen it I doubt you'd feel the need to experience it again - unless the company push it in a new direction. In summary, we have two nuns attending a school reunion and discovering that their schoolmate of the time, who inspired both of their religious conversions, now views them with contempt. A man tries to hastily get rid of a woman after a one-night-stand, but his girlfriend bursts in on them. A jilted boyfriend challenges his ex-girlfriend's new lover to a fight to win her, which he will video for her to prove his devotion. But the final scene has an unexpected spike. Two old friends, one gay one straight, emerge from a gay club late at night, the straight one distraught having broken up with his girlfriend, and in a moment of drunken confusion makes a sexual advance on his friend. the ensuing fracas is him being fought off by his friend, who is trying only to beat sense into him. there's no-one for us to cheer for, the emotions of the piece are too true to make for easy side-taking. And the ending is horrifically unexpected and downbeat. We stop shouting long enough to think about what we have been doing. It's a canny achievement. But for all that, the show overall is too enjoyable for us not to emerge with smiles all over our faces. Guilty though they may be.
- Corinne Salisbury, British theatre Guide

Notes:
Writers include John Donnelly, Ashanti Dhawan, Matt Hartley, Joel Horwood, Phil Porter, Penelope Skinner

1st Produced:
East End Pub, London     2009

Organisations:
DryWright

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Eigengrau

Eigengrau
Two sets of housemates, all with very different beliefs, are thrown together by circumstances as their beliefs are put to the test.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Bush Theatre, London, Eur >>>     15 Mar 2010

Organisations:
Strawberry Vale Production presented by Western Edge Plays

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Evening With the Sisters Fortescue, An

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
devised/collaborative work

1st Produced:
Miniroar For Out Of Twig / Chelsea Theatre     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
devised

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Fred's Diner

Fred's Diner
In Fred's American Diner on a busy English motorway, people dream of better lives. You'll find friendly staff and get service with a smile, but not far beneath lies a deadly secret. Penelope Skinner's new play serves up a beautifully plotted, blackly comic thriller that gives an unsettling portrayal of the darker reaches of intimate relationships

Notes:
This event takes place At theatre on the Fly - A temporary new space for the next generation of theatre-makers And theatre-goers

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books (2012) >>>    978-1849434867

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comic thriller

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Fucked

Synopsis:
Last night's sex was a bit like a kebab? Doner, not shish. This morning I'm coated in the greasy film of regret. Life's not looking too good for F. She's 25, down and out, and she's just spent the night with the wrong man. Again. As she's cleaning up, she finds a love story she wrote aged 12. Before she knows it, she's hurtling back to the most significant mornings-after of her life. Chronicles one girl's sexual journey from adolescence to womanhood.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Tangram Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comic monologue Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Greenland

Greenland
the questions we all have about the environment and the future are intricate. Knowing what and who to trust is an increasingly bewildering challenge. Only a few things are certain: every living thing is related to every other living thing; our actions have consequences; change is constant and inevitable. Seeking to understand a subject of great complexity, the National theatre has asked four of the most distinct and exciting playwrights in British theatre to collaborate on a new piece of documentary theatre. the team has spent six months interviewing key individuals from the worlds of science, politics, business and philosophy in an effort to understand our changing relationship with the planet. Greenland combines the factual and the theatrical as several separate but connected narratives collide to form a provocative response to the most urgent questions of our time.

Notes:
By Moira Buffini, Matt Charman, Penelope Skinner And Jack Thorne

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  7            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Internet Shorts

Synopsis:
examining and exploring our relationship to the internet

Notes:
four new short plays by Alia Bano, DC Moore, Nick Payne and Penelope Skinner. A regular mini season of short plays, experimental readings and works in progress continue, taking over the Wilson rehearsal studio

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Rough Cuts 2013

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
short plays

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Letters From the Goblin Market

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
devised/collaborative work

1st Produced:
Out Of Twig / Arcola Theatre     2006

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
devised

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Linda

Linda
I'm an award-winning business woman. I'm happily married with two beautiful daughters and I still fit in the same size ten dress suit I did fifteen years ago. What could possibly threaten me? Linda Wilde has dedicated her life to changing the world. She's won awards for her efforts, at the same time as working hard to become an inspiring mother, and an independent, loving wife. Now, at 55, she seems to have it all. But Linda isn't satisfied. She's a woman in her prime and she's embarking on her most ambitious plan to date. But beneath the surface, the cracks are starting to show. "Old for a woman means worthless. Invisible. Of course we're terrified. You tell us we peak at sixteen and it's downhill all the way from there. Well I haven't worked this hard to be pushed aside at the last hurdle. I refuse to be silenced. I will not disappear. I am Linda Wilde. And I'm still here!"

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Literary Ball, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
International Rough Cut

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

One in Five

Synopsis:
One in five people faces a shameful death. Five nameless characters explore a landscape of insecurities and neuroses in this play by Penelope Skinner. Within a framework of disturbing statistics, this play narrates five tales of love, pain and the conflicts of modern life.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre - Upstart / Young Vic Bar     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One Act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Promise, The

Synopsis:
Set in Leningrad ravaged by the Second World War, the Promise is the story of a trio of teenagers thrown together, following their shifting allegiances through the years.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Aleksei Arbuzov

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Donmar Trafalgar

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Runaround, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
devised/collaborative work

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
devised

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Scarlet's Circus

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Play for Hampstead theatre's young company

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Heat and Light Company

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Sound Of Heavy Rain

Synopsis:
Cabaret singer Foxie O'Hara disappeared the same night that her best friend Maggie Brown became engaged. Desperate to find her friend Maggie hires a private detective. the more he digs in to the case the darker things become - so he ends up wondering not where is Foxie - but who is Foxie

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield     16 Nov 2011

Organisations:
Paines Plough

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Stationary

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Hampstead Theatre - Start Night     2007

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Traces

Synopsis:
It's the hottest day of the year. Leanne returns home to a small town in search of the past. Meet the frappuccino-swilling Goth, the young girl longing to meet her idol, the guitar-playing agoraphobic, and the man just looking for love, as they come together on a day that will change all their lives forever.

Notes:
Written by Lucinda Cardey, Laura Lomas, Penelope Skinner, Adam Taylor, Danielle Sibley And Tom Wells

1st Produced:
The North Wall, Oxford, Oxfordshire     10 Jul 2009

Organisations:
National Youth Theatre with Future Perfect 2009, Paines Plough

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Untitled Play

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Part of the Roundabout Season

1st Produced:
Sheffield     2011

Organisations:
Paines Plough / Sheffield Theatres in association with Bush Theatre

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Village Bike, The

Village Bike, The
Becky's pregnant and frustrated. But her husband is more interested in the baby manual than her new underwear so she turns to the porn stash under the bed. As the summer heats up, a brief encounter sends her speeding downhill towards reckless abandon. A provocative and darkly comic look at fantasy and romance.

Notes:
Penelope Skinner won the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright 2011

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page