Charlotte Keatley

Charlotte Keatley

Writer

My Mother Said I Never Should is the most widely performed play ever written by a woman, having now been translated or produced in 31 countries from Japan to Peru. Premiered at Contact Theatre, Manchester 1987 and Royal Court 1989, in 2000 The National Theatre named it as one of the “Significant Plays Of the Twentieth Century”. It is studied at GCSE, A Level, Universities and Drama Schools.

“A landmark play. The theatrical equivalent of breaking the four minute mile… pointing the way for the next generation of playwrights, in form and content”
– The Guardian

“The play is without rivals. It is a classic” -The Times.

Other theatre plays include:The Iron Serpent (Leeds Theatre Workshop, 1983); An Armenian Childhood (Leeds, 1983, with Impact Theatre); Waiting For Martin (English Shakespeare company, 1987); Fears And Miseries In The Third Term (Young Vic, 1989); The Ringing Singing Tree (Contact Theatre, 1992); The Sleep Of Reason Produces Monsters (Leeds Theatre Workshop and Shanghai Academy Theatre, 1999); Our Father (Watford Palace Theatre 2012 – published by Methuen); I Am Janet (The Gap, Manchester, 2015).

In development: an epic play about surviving civil war, set in Georgia and Abkhazia, commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and
Emilie’s Reason about the passionate life of 18th century scientist Emilie du Chatelet.

Charlotte has also written and directed performance art, community theatre and plays for schools.

Awards include: George Devine Award, Manchester Evening News Best New Play, nominated for Olivier Award (Most Promising Newcomer),
Time Out Theatre Award, Sunday Times Outstanding Performance Award, Prix Danube, Edinburgh Fringe First, Moliere Award nomination and EMMY for co-researcher filming in Children’s Prisons in Georgia, for C4 documentary Kids Behind Bars.

She has written numerous dramas for BBC Radio 4 and a children’s drama, Badger, for Granada TV and film. As a journalist she has written for the Observer, Financial Times, Yorkshire Post, Scotsman, Spare Rib, Performance Magazine, The Guardian, and reviews for BBC Front Row.

She has taught creative writing from Burnley to Shanghai and continues to run workshops in schools, universities and for community groups of all ages on request.

She lives in Manchester, has a daughter, Georgia, and goes rock climbing instead of cleaning the house.