April De Angelis is an acclaimed British playwright known for her powerful exploration of feminist themes and women's lives. Her work spans theatre, radio, and television, blending sharp wit with deep emotional insight.
De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regiment theatre company. In 1987, her play Breathless was a prize winner at the Second Wave Young Women's Writing Festival, marking the start of her transition into playwriting.
Her plays have been produced by the
Royal Court,
National Theatre,
Royal Shakespeare Company,
Hampstead Theatre, and the West End. Notable works include
Playhouse Creatures, A Laughing Matter and
My Brilliant Friend and her acclaimed adaptation of
Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels for the stage. April's play
Jumpy was nominated for a
Laurence Olivier Award in 2012 for Best New Play.
She has also written extensively for radio and television, with work broadcast by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, and has contributed to opera, writing libretti for Flight (Glyndebourne) and The Silent Twins (Almeida).
Plays
*''Breathless'' (1987)
*''Women in Law'' (1988)
*''Wanderlust'' (1988,
Oval House Theatre Women's Workshop)
*''Visitants'' (1988)
*''Ironmistress'' (1989,
Young Vic Theatre)
*''Crux'' (1989,
Paines Plough)
*''Frankenstein'' (1989)
*''The Life and Times of Fanny Hill'' (1991,
Red Shift Theatre Company)
*''Hush'' (1992,
Royal Court Theatre)
*''Greed'' (1993)
*''Soft Vengeance'' (1993)
*''
Playhouse Creatures'' (Haymarket Theatre, 1993)
*''The Positive Hour'' (1997,
Out of Joint theatre company /
Hampstead Theatre)
*''
A Warwickshire Testimony'' (1999,
Royal Shakespeare Company)
*''A Laughing Matter'' (2002,
Out of Joint theatre company)
*''Headstrong'' (2004,
Royal National Theatre
The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...
Shell Connections)
*''Wild East'' (2005,
Royal Court Theatre)
*''Catch'' (2007,
Royal Court Theatre)
*''
Wuthering Heights'' (2008)
*''
Jumpy'' (2011)
*''After Electra'' (2015)
*''My Brilliant Friend'' (2017)
*''The Village'' (2018,
Theatre Royal Stratford East)
*''Wilderness'' (2019)
*''Kerry Jackson'' (2020)
*''Infamous'' (2023)
*''
The Divine Mrs S.'' (2024)
Libretti
*''Pig''
*''
Flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
''
*''Silent Twins'' (2007)
*Uprising
Contributor
*
Seven Plays by Women' (1993)
*
The Women Writers Handbook' (2020)
Aurora Metro Books.
Retrieved 4 June 2025.
*
Feminist Theatre Then & Now: Celebrating 50 years
' (2024)
''Encounters with Jane Austen: Celebrating 250 Years''
(2025)
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Angelis, April
English women dramatists and playwrights
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
1960 births
English opera librettists
English people of Sicilian descent
Alumni of the University of Sussex
Alumni of East 15 Acting School
Women opera librettists
20th-century English dramatists and playwrights
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English dramatists and playwrights
21st-century English women writers