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By Alissa Watson

British playwright and screenwriter Alice Birch may be an unassuming presence in person, but journalist Andrew Dickson calls her plays, “gloriously full-throated”. Birch arrived on the scene in 2011, in her early twenties and has quickly become one of the United Kingdom’s most notable and accomplished writers. Her film and television work includes numerous adaptations based on works by canonical and contemporary luminaries: Lady Macbeth, Birch’s feminist take on Shakespeare’s fatal queen; Dead Ringers, a series reboot of David Cronenberg’s cult film; and Conversations with Friends and Normal People, by the acclaimed novelist Sally Rooney. Lady Macbeth, Birch’s screenwriting debut, was called a "brilliantly chilling subversion" by the Guardian and won 5 British Independent Film Awards including Best Screenplay (as well as being nominated in an additional 10 categories). Birch also received BAFTA nominations for Lady Macbeth and her adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder. In addition to [BLANK], Birch’s theatre work includes, We Want You to Watch, Anatomy of a Suicide, Ophelias Zimmer, and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again., which was produced for the 2019-2020 Studio Theatre season.

Birch was born into the rural commune, Birchwood Hall, near Malvern (northwest of London). Founded in 1970, this small housing co-op was established by a group of people who were interested in exploring alternative lifestyles and sharing experiences beyond the nuclear family. Though not a self-sufficient community, it involves couples, families, and individuals living cooperatively, eating, cooking, growing food, socialising, and maintaining the home together. When Birch was born, her parents were unmarried, so they gave her and her sister the surname “Birch,” after the community. She spent the first five years of her life there with her family and candidly admits, “I always think that’s the most interesting thing about me.” It is interesting to consider how this early start in community may have influenced Birch’s draw to the collaborative art form of theatre or perhaps the rationale behind the collectives that populate her plays.

When she was 16, Birch begged the Royal Court Theatre in London to work as an intern and was ecstatic when they granted her one week on the inside. This week was Birch’s “game changer,” and she read everything she could get her hands on. It was here that Birch discovered inspirations in the likes of Samuel Beckett, Caryl Churchill, and Sarah Kane and realized writing was what she wanted to do. From there, Birch joined the Royal Court Theatre's young writers’ program and eventually completed a 3-month internship in Los Angeles working for the production company, BenderSpink (since dissolved in 2016). Birch went on to study English at Exeter University in Devon, finishing her undergraduate program in 2009.

Like Sarah Kane and the "in-yer-face" British playwrights of the 1990's, Birch's work pulls no punches. In her own cool but confrontational style, she often showcases the mistreatment of women or the effects of trauma on women. In her work you will also find powerhouse female characters and the consequences of oppressing them. When writing about elite society, upper-class characters are typically veiled with a corrupt lens (pay particularly close attention to the opening scene in our production of [BLANK]).

 

Photo Credit: Sara Krulwich

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Published February 2025