Helen Edmundson

Helen Edmundson is a British playwright and screenwriter. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen.

Edmundson's first play Flying was produced at the National Theatre Studio in 1990. In 1992, her adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, produced by Shared Experience, won a Time Out Award and a TMA Award; the production toured nationally and internationally. In 1993, Edmundson's original play The Clearing, which won the John Whiting Award, was staged at the Bush Theatre. In 1994, her adaptation of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss was also produced by Shared Experience, again touring nationally and internationally; Edmundson won a Time Out Award for The Clearing and The Mill on the Floss. In 1996, Shared Experience staged her adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace at the National Theatre in a production co-directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale and starring Richard Hope and BAFTA Award-nominee Anne-Marie Duff; the play was nominated for a Writers' Guild Award for Best Play.

In 2002, Edmundson's play Mother Teresa is Dead was produced at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2004, her adaptation of Mary Webb's Gone to Earth was produced by Shared Experience at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour; it was nominated for a TMA Award. Edmundson's adaptation of Jamila Gavin's novel Coram Boy premiered at the National Theatre in November 2005, directed by Melly Still and starring Olivier Award-winner Bertie Carvel and Tony Award-nominee Paul Ritter; Edmundson received a Time Out Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award. The play came back for a revival at the same venue a year later, again directed by Still and starring Carvel and Ruth Gemmell. Her adaptation of Euripides' Orestes, toured in the UK and played at the Tricycle Theatre with Shared Experience in 2006. Coram Boy was revived at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway in 2007, starring Emmy Award-winner Uzo Aduba and Tony Award-nominee Jan Maxwell, receiving six Tony Award nominations. In 2008, Edmundson amended her adaptation of War and Peace, turning it into a two-part play; this production was staged on tour by Shared Experience. In the same year, her musical adaptation of Isabel Allende's Zorro was produced at the Garrick Theatre, directed by Christopher Renshaw and starring Olivier Award-winner Lesli Margherita and Olivier Award-nominee Emma Williams. In 2009, Edmundson's adaptation of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's Life Is a Dream was produced at the Donmar Warehouse, starring BAFTA Award-winner Dominic West.

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