Editorial: Penelope Skinner

Dream List: what plays should we be reading, putting on and going to see?

I can't answer for anyone else, but plays I will definitely be going to this year are:

Kin by EV Crowe (Royal Court), Spur of the Moment by Anya Reiss (Royal Court) and Me As a Penguin by Tom Wells (Arcola) and anything by Dennis Kelly, Chloe Moss, Sarah Ruhl, Alia Bano, Amy Rosenthal, David Greig, Debbie Tucker-Green, Polly Stenham, Bola Agbaje, Roy Williams, Sarah Daniels, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Leo Butler, Jack Thorne, Martin Crimp, Kneehigh Theatre, Paper Birds Theatre Co, and lots of other people who will hopefully have plays on this year.

Something I will not be doing this year is:

Reading The Canon.

Describe your first theatrical epiphany

Probably when I was eleven and I went to see a children's show of The Hobbit.  It was so good that afterwards I cried because the real world seemed very disappointing in comparison. 

Who would you invite to your fantasy theatrical dinner party?

Daniel Mayes, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne, Al Pacino, Daniel Day Lewis.

What are your career highlights so far?

I used to live in Shepherds Bush in a very different time in my life, so to have a play on at the Bush is something very special. It's funny to see the same old places, but now with a completely different perspective. Also the Bush was the theatre which made me first want to actually sit down and write a play, so that makes it doubly amazing to have a play on here.

What's the strangest experience you've had in the theatre?

I went to see this amazing production of Cymbeline in a castle in Cornwall. There was a bit at the end where they dragged a headless corpse onto the stage and loads of people in the audience laughed. That was strange. I still wonder what was the joke?

Who is your favourite actor of all time?

Daniel Mayes, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne, Al Pacino, Daniel Day Lewis.

Who is the greatest influence on your career?

Noel Edmonds.

Where do you want to be in 5 years time?

 I am superstitiously unable to answer questions like this.

What' s the best thing you've ever seen at the theatre?

I need more than one. These aren't even all of them, but ones I think of straight away which have been very inspirational, either in a personal way or in terms of the way they made me experience theatre:

When You Cure Me (Jack Thorne, Bush)
This Wide Night (Chloe Moss, Soho – both times)
Love and Money (Dennis Kelly, Young Vic)
In a Thousand Pieces (Paper Birds Theatre Company, Edinburgh Festival)
On the Rocks (Amy Rosenthal, Hampstead)
Cymbeline (Kneehigh)
Angels in America (Tony Kushner, Lyric Hammersmith)
Jerusalem (Jez Butterworth, Royal Court)
Dunsinane (David Greig, Hampstead)
The City (Martin Crimp, Royal Court)
Blasted (Sarah Kane, Soho)
Fallout (Roy Williams, Royal Court)

What are you up to at the moment?

Feeling nervous about Eigengrau, trying to rewrite my most recent play, trying to write a new play, and developing a  graphic novel with my sister Ginny. She does the art, I do the words.

Biography: Penelope Skinner

Theatre includes: Midnight at the Hotel Beauregard (with Paines Plough for Rose Bruford); Scarlet's Circus (Hampstead Theatre Heat & Light Company); F*cked (Old Red Lion/Edinburgh Assembly Rooms); 1 in 5 (Hampstead Theatre Upstart).
Radio includes: Scratch (Locative drama for Radio 3 Freethinking Festival); The Old Road (BBC 7 Man in Black series). Additional Credits include: The Art Room (a comic in 3 parts); The Nocturnal Adventures of Edwin D'Eath (graphic short story, Glasshouse Books).

Penelope's latest play, Eigengrau, opens at the Bush Theatre for previews on Wednesday 10th March and runs until 10th April. Click here to find out more about the production.