Polly Stenham
UK | 2016
Polly Stenham is a playwright. Her plays include That Face at the Royal Court, for which she was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright 2007 and the 2008 Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. The play transferred to the Duke of Yorks Theatre in the West End in 2008
Tusk Tusk and No Quarter both directed by Jeremy Herrin opened at the Royal Court in 2009 and 2013.
Her play Hotel opened at the National Theatre in June 2014. She is currently under commission for Donmar Warehouse, Film Four, the Almeida and the Royal National Theatre.
TV includes: Tusk her screen adaptation of her play Tusk Tusk is in development with Origin/Film4.
Report 2016
I would have never finished my play if it wasn’t for Santa Maddalena. I was in a dire situation in London, trapped by building work both at home and in my studio, two years into a project, jaded and restless. Uninspired. I was desperate to get away. I’d heard rumours about Santa Maddalena, but nothing could have prepared me for how truly special the experience would be. The house is tucked away down a long unpaved road, crammed with art and books upon books, the garden is staggering, verdant green, full of butterflies, lizards and a path of fire flies at night. I was sleeping in a restored signalling tower at the end of the garden with my own study. The first morning I woke up, I felt completely re enthused. With the external noise and pressures of London life removed, it was as if I could hear my thoughts again. That morning I started to write with a new kind of clarity. A clarity that has remained long since leaving. I cannot express how grateful I am to the foundation for this. To be given the time and space to work in an environment of such beauty gave me back my craft. I was able to find a joy and a freedom in it again.