Lucy Prebble (born 1981) is a British playwright. She is the author of the plays ''

The Sugar Syndrome ''The Sugar Syndrome'' is a 2003 play written by British writer Lucy Prebble. It has won several awards and as of 2009 has been sold in seven languages. Synopsis The play has four main characters: Dani, Tim, Lewis and Jan. At the beginning, D ...

'', '' The Effect'', ''

ENRON Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...

'' and '' A Very Expensive Poison''. For television she adapted ''

Secret Diary of a Call Girl ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' is a British drama television series that aired from 27 September 2007 to 22 March 2011 on ITV2, based on the blog and books by the pseudonymous Belle de Jour. It stars Billie Piper as Belle, a high-end London ...

'' and co-created ''

I Hate Suzie ''I Hate Suzie'' is a British dark comedy drama television series created by Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper. It was produced by Bad Wolf in association with Sky Studios, with Prebble serving as showrunner. All episodes were written by Prebble an ...

'' with her close friend

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer. She initially gained recognition as a singer after releasing her debut single "Because We Want To" at age 15, which made her the youngest woman ...

. Since 2018, Prebble is Co-Executive Producer and writer on '' Succession''.

Biography

Prebble grew up in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. W ...

, and was educated at Guildford High School. While studying English at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = P ...

, Prebble wrote a short play called ''Liquid'', which won the PMA Most Promising Playwright Award. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014.

Theatre

Prebble's first play, ''

'' was performed at the Royal Court in 2003 Loveridge, Lizzie
"A CurtainUp London Review. 'The Sugar Syndrome' "
''CurtainUp'', 10 October 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2009 and won her the

George Devine Award George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

, followed by the

TMA Award The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional theat ...

for Best New Play in October 2004. Her next theatre project ''

'', was based on the financial scandal and collapse of the American energy corporation of the same name. It was produced by theatre company Headlong at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2009, under the direction of Rupert Goold. The production transferred first to the Royal Court and subsequently to the

Noël Coward Theatre The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre in St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's ...

. The play earned Prebble an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

nomination for Best New Play. The production's Broadway transfer opened at the

Broadhurst Theatre The Broadhurst Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for the Shubert brothers. The Broa ...

in April 2010 but failed to match the critical acclaim it received in the UK and closed the following month. '' The Effect'', a study of love and neuroscience, premiered at the National Theatre in 2012, won the 2012 Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.Edwardes, Jane
"The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2012"
criticscircle.org.uk, 16 January 2013 ''The Effect'' premiered in the US

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

at the Barrow Street Theatre on 2 March 2016, directed by

David Cromer David Cromer (born October 17, 1964) is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous ...

, and featuring Kati Brazda, Susannah Flood, Carter Hudson and Steve Key. In 2019, it was listed in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' as one of the 40 most "continually rewarding" plays. In April 2017 it was announced that Prebble was working on a new play, based on Bizet’s ''Carmen'''','' from the new

Bridge Theatre The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as execut ...

in London. In October 2018, London's

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

announced Prebble's ''A Very Expensive Poison'', a stage adaptation of Luke Harding's non-fiction book of the same name. The play is about the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko by means of the invisible radioactive isotope

polonium-210 Polonium-210 (210Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable 206Pb with a half-life of 138.376 days (about months), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes. First i ...

. The play opened at the Old Vic on 5 September 2019, directed by John Crowley. ''A Very Expensive Poison'' was nominated at the

2020 Laurence Olivier Awards The 2020 Laurence Olivier Awards was held on 25 October 2020 at the London Palladium and hosted by Jason Manford, who presented all of the awards except Special Recognition. The Oliviers were originally scheduled to be held on 5 April 2020 at the ...

for Best New Play and won the

Critics' Circle Theatre Award The Critics' Circle Theatre Awards, originally called ''Drama'' Theatre Awards up to 1990, are British theatrical awards presented annually for the closing year's theatrical achievements. The winners, from theatre throughout the United Kingdom, ar ...

for Best New Play and Best New Production of a Play at the Broadway World Awards. Prebble was also awarded the 2020

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

Television

2007 saw the premiere of Prebble's first television series, ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl,'' starring

. Prebble wrote for the first two of the show's four seasons, the last of which concluded in March 2011. Prebble and Piper have collaborated on a further television project, ''

'' which aired in 2020. Prebble also writes for '' Frankie Boyle's New World Order'' and appears on the TV show as a guest as well as appearing occasionally on '' Have I Got News for You''. Since 2018, Lucy is Co-Executive Producer and writer on the BAFTA,

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

and

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

award-winning HBO drama '' Succession'', for which she has also won a WGA Award.

Other writing

Prebble contributes to major publications as a journalist and wrote a weekly Tech column for the Observer newspaper. She was the Head Scene Writer for Bungie's first person shooter video game, ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although ofte ...

'', which was released in 2014. In June 2018 Prebble was elected Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

in its "40 Under 40" initiative. She was also the recipient of the 2019 Wellcome Screenwriting Fellowship.

Works

Theatre

*''Liquid'', 2002 *''

'', Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London, November 2003 *''

'', Chichester Festival Theatre / Royal Court Theatre / Noel Coward Theatre, London, 2009; Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 2010 *'' The Effect'', National Theatre, 2012;''The Effect''
nationaltheatre.org.uk, accessed 29 January 2016 Barrow Street Theatre, New York City, 2016 *''A Very Expensive Poison''; Old Vic Theatre, London, 2019

Television

*''

'' (2007–2011) *'' Succession'' (2018– ) *''

'' (2020– )

Awards and nominations

Theatre

References

External links

Lucy Prebble
at ''Doollee.com'' Playwrights Database *
"Enron: much ado about money", ''Prospect'', Michael Coveney
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prebble, Lucy 1981 births Living people English dramatists and playwrights English television writers British women television writers People educated at Guildford High School Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English women dramatists and playwrights British women screenwriters 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century English women writers 21st-century British screenwriters Video game writers