playwriting

As a playwright, I am interested in the treatment of space and time, including nonlinear narratives; how technology interferes with our ability to communicate; regional, rural, and urban landscapes; and identifying how women’s voices may fit into our existing dramatic tradition.

Like Rabbits

ADC Theatre (May 2026), dir. James Critchley

“Sorry, my good man, I must have misheard you – I thought you said a rabbit –“
“Not a rabbit. Rabbits. Plural.”
“…Pardon?”
In 1726, a young woman from Surrey called Mary Toft becomes an overnight celebrity when the astonishing news breaks that she has given birth to a litter of rabbits. It’s not true, obviously – but when everyone believes that it is, including the King and his most senior doctors, the lie becomes harder and harder to keep up. As she finds herself at the centre of a courtly power struggle and, eventually, a national scandal, Mary begins to wonder if she can ever return to a life of obscurity again. Like Rabbits is the funny but thought-provoking true story of a young woman who royally deceived the whole of England – and of those who paid the price.

“Wow this was seriously good […] impressively written” – audience review
“What a beautiful production” – audience review
“astonishingly original and so refreshing […] brilliantly skilful” – audience review

Fathom

Staged reading at Cambridge Junction (April 2026), dir. Gina Stock
Full production at The Hope Theatre (October 2026), tickets here

“Once a body is in a bog, I suppose it becomes a bog body, doesn’t it?”

Finn isn’t entirely sure how he ended up here. Last night, he was driving through the middle of nowhere to meet a stranger who had something very important to tell him, when his car suddenly… well, something weird happened. He was probably overtired.

When he wakes up in a house deep in isolated marshland, inhabited by a young woman called Martha, her peculiar father Peter, and their even more peculiar housekeeper Abigail, something isn’t right. Martha is always talking to someone out on the marsh; Peter seems to know more about Finn than he should; Abigail keeps telling him to be careful. It’s clear that the car crash was no accident – but who brought him here, and why?

Fathom is a feminist, folk horror retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest set against the landscape of the Fens. This is a murky, mischievous, and darkly funny new play that plumbs the depths of rural England – and those who call it their home.

“moody and funny” – audience feedback
“rooted in folklore but entirely original” – audience feedback

Bucket List

Edinburgh Festival Fringe (August 2024); New Wimbledon Theatre Studio (June 2024); Burton Taylor Studio (February 2024); dir. Imogen Usherwood and Harry Ledgerwood

“If I wasn’t dead, I’d kill myself.”
“Don’t say that.”
“No, I mean it – ghosts have the most appalling quality of life.”
Luke and Jess meet at a party. Several dates, an entire relationship and a bad breakup later, he reappears in her life to announce that he’s dead. As their story is played out back and forth in time, Luke and Jess are forced to reflect on their time together and decide whether they want to carry on being in each other’s lives – or afterlives. Bucket List is a darkly funny two-hander about being young and stupid, and older and wiser, and feeling like you’re running out of time before you’ve even begun.

★★★★★ “A must-see for anyone who loved One Day” – audience review
★★★★½ “Exceptional in its mundanity and truly affecting in its closeness.” – The President’s Husband’s Drama Reviews
★★★★ “Complex and clever […] Ghosts rarely feel as real as this.” – Edinburgh Reviews
★★★★ “Dark and funny” – The Derek Awards
★★★★ – Theatre and Art Reviews
“Emotionally intelligent, engaging, and witty […] Usherwood’s writing shines with an undeniable sincerity, making her one to watch out for in the future.” – EdFringeReview
“Brilliant writing […] I was moved to tears” – audience review

Rosaline (after William Shakespeare)

Backstage Theatre, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts (July 2023), dir. Gráinne Robson

Rosaline is mentioned ten times in Romeo and Juliet. She doesn’t even get any lines. She doesn’t even appear on the stage. Yet she’s the reason that Romeo turns up to the fateful party that changes – and then cuts short – his life and that of Rosaline’s younger cousin.
She’s had enough.
Rosaline has lived many lives in many productions – from lowkey school plays to weird avant-garde interpretations – and the line between what’s canonical and what isn’t has become blurred. She confides in the audience about everything she knows of Romeo and Juliet and her part in it, before making a choice about whether she will ever, or can ever, do anything about her place in history’s most tragic love story.

“Fabulous” – audience review

Leaves on the Line: a new musical (book)

Edinburgh Festival Fringe (August 2022), dir. Alexandra Hart
Music and lyrics by Evie Press and Constance Froment

If life is about the journey and not the destination, then the passengers on the 15:00 train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley don’t know which way to go. Everyone has somewhere to be: a weary office worker, a struggling actor, a teenager who won’t tell anyone where he’s going or why. As the train moves north, a cast of colourful characters open up and discover that they have more in common than they might think. With unexpected delays, irritating announcements and embarrassing moments, this new musical is about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.

★★★★★ “Sharply observed comedic sketches with quick-witted humour, imaginative characters and amusing story lines” – Edinburgh Guide

Meeting Point (after Louis MacNeice)

Assembly Rooms Theatre (June 2021), dir. Imogen Usherwood and Hugo Millard

Sadie is cynical, grieving and a compulsive liar. Matt is polite, into poetry, and terrified of relationships. Two twentysomethings, scared to say the wrong thing but desperate to talk to someone about it, are navigating the digital and real worlds through texts, phone calls, meetings and late-night Google searches.
Meeting Point is a heart-breaking but humorous examination of relationships in the digital age, and the experiences and emotions that we bring to them.

“Usherwood’s writing did not disappoint. Her words are honest, and dialogue is wonderfully every-day, yet throughout there is still a command on the audience’s attention” – First Night

“simply marvellous” – Palatinate

Everyman (adapted from the morality play with Laura Wildgoose)

Assembly Rooms Theatre (June 2021), dir. Lauren Brewer

“Dying! Imagine. Couldn’t be me.”
Everyman has been called to death, but he’s not ready yet. Can’t he at least take someone with him? Bargaining with Death is difficult, but what’s harder is talking to your loved ones and taking a long, hard look at how you’ve treated them.
Everyman is the popular medieval morality play about our own morality and how we begin to approach it.

“Usherwood and Wildgoose must be applauded for turning one of the driest, most boring texts studied in first-year English Literature into such a dynamic and lively piece of theatre.” – Palatinate

Mrs Dalloway (adapted from the novel by Virginia Woolf)

Durham Castle (March 2020), dir. Hugo Millard

It’s June. It’s June and the war is over. It’s June, the war is over and Clarissa Dalloway is holding a party. Over the course of a single day, this woman of high society encounters her own troubled past when Peter Walsh, an old flame of thirty years ago, walks back into her life. At the same time, a man she has never met still cannot escape his memories of the war, despite being diagnosed as ‘absolutely fine’. Mrs Dalloway is Virginia Woolf’s classic story of memory, modernity and the moments that connect us.

★★★★★ “Usherwood’s adaption is a triumph… cleverly exploits the subtle complexities of the characters” – Palatinate

Number Theory

Old Red Lion Theatre (April 2020, cancelled); Durham Drama Festival (February 2020); Maiden Speech Festival; Tristan Bates Theatre (November 2019); dir. Imogen Usherwood and Esalan Gates

It’s late. Evelyn has a maths exam tomorrow, and ‘stressed’ doesn’t begin to cover it. Luckily, Stella has decided to help, just like she always does when life gets a bit too much. Number Theory is a two-woman show about maths, mental health and everything in between.

“Usherwood writes with a voice that is so honest it captures not just the anxieties of one with a disorder, but also the fragility and doubt in all of us.” – The Bubble