Polly Stenham MBE, FRSL is a playwright, screenwriter and director.
Her plays include That Face, written at 19, which opened at the Royal Court Theatre before transferring to The Duke of York’s in 2008, making her one of the youngest writers in history to have a play in the West End.
Tusk Tusk and No Quarter, both directed by Jeremy Herrin, opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009 and 2013. Hotel opened at the National Theatre in June 2014, and Julie, her modern take on Strindberg’s classic, opened at the National Theatre in May 2018. She is currently writing her sixth play for Empire Street Productions, to be directed by Ian Rickson.
Shorts include Everyday Lives of Performance Artists for Channel Four’s Random Acts programme in 2016 (director) and BLOOD RITES (writer). Her first feature film, Neon Demon, was co-written with and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and debuted at Cannes.
Awards include the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright. In 2019 her first collection, Plays I, an anthology comprising That Face, Tusk Tusk, No Quarter and Hotel was published by Faber & Faber. Her plays are studied in schools nationally and are on the core English and Drama national exam syllabus.
In 2017 a portrait of Polly was hung at the National Portrait Gallery and in 2018 Polly was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
In 2020 she was honoured by the Queen with an MBE medal for her services to theatre and literature.
