Dawn King

April 18, 2012

My One and Only

My afternoon play My One and Only broadcasts on Friday the 20th at 2.15pm.

It will be online for a week after broadcast.

It’s also been selected from all the drama output of that week to be the play of the week, which means it will be available as a podcast for one week after broadcast. If you want the play of the week to automatically download into your computer, go here.

My One and Only is a dark thriller about obsessive love, told entirely through telephone calls. It stars the wonderful Katherine Parkinson (from The IT Crowd) and Carl Prekopp and is directed by the stupendous Jessica Dromgoole.

It was radio drama pick of the day for Friday in The Observer, in which Stephanie Billen wrote -

Katherine Parkinson, better known for her comic role in The IT Crowd, proves a compelling protagonist in Dawn King’s psycological drama. Rejected by her married lover, stressed out Layla meets Noah (Carl Prekopp) on an internet date, but his obsessive desire to stay in contact threatens to derail her still further. Meanwhile, her ex, Ben, (Simon Bubb) becomes concerned about her refusal to leave him alone. Told entirely through phone calls, the play builds to a tense climax.

It was also radio choice in The Independent, The Mail and Mail on Sunday.

Filed under Radio

February 26, 2012

Most promising playwright at the Off West End awards

I am chuffed to bits to be the winner of this year’s Off West End award for Most Promising Playwright!

I was given the award at the ceremony at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Here’s a picture of me with Richard Bean who announced the winner and the sponsors.

Filed under Uncategorized

January 28, 2012

Shortlisted for Off West End Award

I’ve been shortlisted in the Off West End Awards (otherwise known as Offies) as Most Promising Playwright.

Whoop!

The Finborough, Foxfinder’s venue, crops up in several categories including Best Artistic Director for Neil McPherson and Best Director for Blanche McIntyre for Accolade. Blanche also directed Foxfinder, of course.

The awards ceremony is on February the 5th.

Filed under Theatre

December 24, 2011

Foxfinder review roundup

Here is a rundown of press for Foxfinder.

Time Out Critics’ Choice
The Guardian Critics’ Choice

Shortlisted for Time Out Best New Play of the year

Included in The Independent’s top five plays of the year.

***** Five Stars WhatsOnStage
**** Four Stars The Telegraph
**** Four Stars The Guardian
**** Four Stars The Independent
**** Four Stars Evening Standard
**** Four Stars Exeunt
**** Four Stars Spoonfed
**** Four Stars Time Out

Nominated for the Off West End award for 2011 for Best New Play and Best Male Performance

A couple of choice quotes-

“a thrillingly original piece of writing” Sam Marlowe, Time Out

“Dawn King’s play shines out like a beacon…Any rural tragedy has to overcome the memory of Cold Comfort Farm, but King’s play easily transcends that and – along with Mike Bartlett’s 13 – is the most compelling new work I have seen this year.” Michael Billington, The Guardian

“It’s a script which lays out her vividly imagined plot so subtly that you don’t notice King is trying to make you think something until you’ve already thought it.” Daisy Bowie-Sell, The Telegraph

“this spell-binding dystopian parable by Dawn King.” Paul Taylor, The Independent

“Foxfinder is a haunting and striking new piece. Exceptionally written, directed and performed, this remarkably tense modern parable has all the hallmarks of an instant classic – a superlative achievement from all involved.” Chris Hislop, Whatsonstage

“A bold and often brilliant stab at something new.” Dominic Maxell, The Times

And it completely sold out. Not bad!

Filed under Theatre

December 13, 2011

Foxfinder sold out!

Foxfinder is now sold out for the entire run. Whoop!

Filed under Theatre

December 5, 2011

Pretty wonderful Guardian review for Foxfinder!

In his four star review of Foxfinder, Michael Billington has said some wonderful things.In fact, because the review is so good I’m going to post the whole thing here.

In a wan year for new writing, Dawn King’s play shines out like a beacon. Winner of the Papatango playwriting competition, it may display the influence of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and have echoes of Kafka, but it remains an arresting and individual work that haunts the mind long after you’ve seen it.

King’s setting is an English countryside on the brink of crisis and subject to rigorous official inspection. One farming couple, Samuel and Judith Covey, who are already troubled by the death of their son and failing crops, find themselves under investigation by 19-year-old William Bloor, a designated foxfinder. For Bloor, the fox is the deadly enemy of mankind, with the power to contaminate farms, influence the weather, unsettle the mind and kill children. We see how Bloor’s fox fixation leads neighbours to betray each other, and drives the innocent Samuel into a state of deluded guilt.

Clearly the play is a parable, but one that works because of the openness of King’s central symbol. At times, the fox represents a wild, untamed sexuality of which monastic, self-flagellating Bloor is keenly aware. But the fox also symbolises the irrational search for scapegoats to explain the ills that haunt mankind. If I had to pin it down, I would say the play is an attack on the danger of fundamentalist certainties. What stops it toppling into gothic absurdity is King’s sharp sense of humour, narrative drive and realism: she locates her dark fable in a plausible world where cattle have to be fed, leeks harvested and meals cooked.

Director Blanche McIntyre follows last year’s dazzling Finborough revival of Accolade with another first-rate production. She keeps the staging stark and simple, and makes chilling use of prolonged silences. There are fine performances from Gyuri Sarossy as the quietly truculent Samuel, Kirsty Besterman as his anxious, raw-boned wife and from Tom Byam Shaw, who has the wit to play the foxfinder not as a raging hysteric but as a conscientious official terrified of his own repressed emotions. Any rural tragedy has to overcome the memory of Cold Comfort Farm, but King’s play easily transcends that and – along with Mike Bartlett’s 13 – is the most compelling new work I have seen this year.

Filed under Theatre

December 2, 2011

Foxfinder gets four stars in the Evening Standard

Fiona Mountford has given Foxfinder a four star review in the Evening Standard.

She says “Foxfinder had me at the title, so it’s pleasing to report that the play itself more than lives up to its name. It’s an elliptical, intriguing piece of writing from Dawn King…grippingly atmospheric, dark and tense and confident enough to revel in the sort of stillness and silence that ratchet up the tension. “

Filed under Theatre

November 28, 2011

Advance press for Foxfinder

Foxfinder opens tomorrow, and was mentioned in Lynne Gardner’s What To See theatre tips for this month.

She wrote “At the Finborough, Foxfinder sounds creepily comic and enticing and is overseen by Blanche McIntyre, who directed When Did You Last See My Mother?”

Foxfinder was also featured in an article in The Telegraph by Dominic Cavendish, The Finborough Theatre is a scrum sell-out

After advising patrons to bag tickets early Mr Cavendish goes on to talk about me…

“Already sold out Tuesday to Thursday is Dawn King’s Foxfinder. I first came across King when she contributed an exquisite audio drama to the Urban Scrawl series on theatrevoice.com – one of the few in that epic project to capture the seismic effects of the then so-called Credit Crunch.

King was this week awarded an illustrious Pearson Playwrights Bursary, as the Finborough’s playwright-in-residence – the seventh time this theatre has scooped a Pearson bursary, and again the only unsubsidised theatre to do so. Hopes then are high for Foxfinder.”

It had not occured to me that I would be called “King” by the press but it’s quite cool I think.

Filed under Theatre

November 23, 2011

Pearson bursary winner!

I am totally thrilled to be able to announce that I am the winner of a Pearson bursary!

Pearson bursarys give writers money so that they are able to write their next play, and attach them to a theatre for a year. I was put up for the award by the Finborough Theatre and will be in residence there next year.

Filed under Theatre

October 27, 2011

Foxfinder director and cast announced

In a stroke of staggering good fortune I have landed uber brilliant director Blanche MnIntyre to take charge of Foxfinder for it’s Finborough run.

Blanche will be coming to Foxfinder straight from The Trafalgar Studios where she directed WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE MY MOTHER? Her last show at the Finborough was the sell out ACCOLADE.