Elyse Dodgson (1945 – 23 October 2018) MBE was an English theatre producer. In 1996 she co-founded the International Department at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

and ran this for over 20 years. In this time she worked with playwrights and coordinated play development projects in more than 70 countries. According to

April De Angelis 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 car ...

, Dodgson was "responsible for thousands of new plays written in voices that may otherwise have remained silent."

Career

Dodgson moved to Britain in 1968, joining the

Brighton Combination Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods. The ancient settlement of ...

, a radical underground theatre company. After starting a family, she became a teacher and worked as head of drama at Vauxhall Manor, a girls’ comprehensive in South London. Here she developed a pioneering approach to developing plays by starting with personal testimony of historical events. Several of these plays were produced at the

Oval House Theatre Ovalhouse, formerly called Oval House Theatre, was an Off-West End theatre in the London Borough of Lambeth, located at 52–54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW. It closed in 2020, and moved to Brixton, becoming the Brixton House theatre (locate ...

, including the influential ''Motherland'' in 1982, about women in the Windrush generation, which was based on interviews with many of the pupil's mothers on their experience migrating from the West Indies to Britain. Dodgson then used this last play as the basis of an influential textbook for Secondary Schools.

Royal Court Young People's Theatre

Dodgson was hired in 1985 by

Max Stafford-Clark Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark (born 17 March 1941) is a British theatre director. Life and career Stafford-Clark was born in Cambridge, the son of David Stafford-Clark, a physician, and Dorothy Crossley (née Oldfield). H ...

to become Director of the Royal Court Young People’s Theatre. Here she created plays with young actors including

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. She ...

(''Women and Sisters'' by

Sandra Agard Sandra Agard Hon. FRSL is a British storyteller, writer, literary consultant and cultural historian. She is a published author of short stories and poetry, and for more than 40 years has performed her work, including plays, within the UK as well ...

, ''A Rock in Water'' by

Winsome Pinnock Winsome Pinnock FRSL (born 1961) is a British playwright of Jamaican heritage, who is "probably Britain's most well known black female playwright". She was described in ''The Guardian'' as "the godmother of black British playwrights". Life Wins ...

), as well as working with young writers such as Shaun Duggan and Jonathan Harvey, selecting and producing plays for the Royal Court Young Writers’ Festival, which ran from 1986 to 1991.

International Theatre

Elyse Dodgson led the International Theatre department at the Royal Court Theatre from 1996 until her death in 2018. The seeds of her involvement with international theatre included the setting up of an International Summer School at the Court in 1989, and collaborations with the Deutsches Theater,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

starting in 1992. The international department, with Dodgson at the helm, was then created in 1996 by

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway theatre, Broadway and an Olivie ...

, then the Royal Court Artistic Director. The first long term writer's workshop programme with a partner country was initiated in 1996 when Dodgson, along with

Stephen Jeffreys John Stephen Gerrard Jeffreys (22 April 1950 – 17 September 2018) was a British playwright and playwriting teacher. He wrote original plays, films and play adaptations and also worked as translator. Jeffreys is best known for his play ''The Libe ...

and

Hettie MacDonald Hettie Macdonald is an English film, theatre and television director. Macdonald is known as the director of the Hugo Award-winning 2007 episode of ''Doctor Who'', "Blink". She has won numerous awards including one BAFTA Television Award for Bes ...

travelled to

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

. Over the next twenty two years, Dodgson developed partnerships, held workshops, and produced translated readings and plays by playwrights in over 70 countries, from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and finally

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. New plays would be developed during International Workshops, often led by Dodgson. In addition, a central component for developing new international playwriting talent was the International Residency, which developed from the original fee-paying Summer School to an annual event where writers from different countries would come together in London and each develop a new play in collaboration with members of the Royal Court artistic team. The programme would include group sessions led by prominent British theatre makers, such as

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

, David Hare,

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

, and

Sarah Kane Sarah Kane (3 February 1971 – 20 February 1999) was an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre director. She is known for her plays that deal with themes of redemptive love, sexual desire, pain, torture—both physical and psychological ...

. Many of the plays developed from these workshops and residencies would go on to appear at the Royal Court Theatre.

Selected productions

*''Motherland'', by Dodgson and company (Vauxhall Manor School) *''A Rock In Water'', by

*'' Fireface'', by

Marius von Mayenburg Marius von Mayenburg (born 21 February 1972 in Munich) is a German playwright and dramaturg. Education In 1994, Mayenburg began his studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. His first play, '' Haarmann'', was first performed at Baracke (D ...

*''Plasticine'', by

Vasily Sigarev Vassily Vladimirovich Sigarev (, born 11 January 1977, Verkhnyaya Salda, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Russian playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays ''Plasticine'', ''Black Milk'' and ''Ladybird'' were first produced in t ...

*''Terrorism'', by the Presnyakov Brothers *''Mr Kolpert'' by David Gieselmann *''

My Name is Rachel Corrie ''My Name Is Rachel Corrie'' is a play based on the diaries and emails of activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli soldier when she was aged 23. It was jointly edited by journalist Katharine Viner and actor Alan Rickman, who also d ...

'' (from the diaries of

Rachel Corrie Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) was an American nonviolence activist and diarist. She was a member of the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and was active throughout the Israeli-occupied terr ...

), edited by

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his distinctive deep, wikt:languid#Etymology 1, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and b ...

and

Katherine Viner Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971) is a British journalist and playwright. She became the second state-educated and first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015, succeeding Alan Rusbridger.Anupama Chandrasekhar *''The Djinns of Eidgah'' by Abhishek Majumdar *''Feast'' by Yunior Garca Aguilera (Cuba), Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria), Marcos Barbosa (Brazil),

Tanya Barfield Tanya Barfield is an American playwright whose works have been presented both nationally and internationally.DeVoti, Emily"Blue Door: Painting within the lines of history with Tanya Barfield"brooklynrail.org, October 2006, Accessed 13 September 21 ...

(US) and

Gbolahan Obisesan Gbolahan Obisesan is a British Nigerian writer and director. He was the Artistic Director and Joint CEO at Brixton House theatre. He has served as a Genesis Fellow and Associate Director at the Young Vic. Early life Obisesan was born in Nigeri ...

(UK); directed by

Rufus Norris Sir Rufus John Norris (born 16 January 1965) is a British theatre and film director, who was the artistic director and chief executive of the National Theatre from 2015 to 2025. He received the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2025 f ...

*''Bad Roads'' by Natal'ya Vorozhbit *''Fireworks'' (Al'ab Nariya) by Dalia Taha *''I See You'' by Mongiwekhaya; directed by

Noma Dumezweni Noma Dumezweni (born 28 July 1969) is a South African-British actress. In 2006, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her performance as Ruth Younger in '' A Raisin in the Sun'' at the Lyric Hammersmith ...

Death

Grave of Elyse Dodgson in Highgate Cemetery

Dodgson died on 23 October 2018 and was buried on the eastern side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Awards, honours and legacy

In 2004, Dodgson received the Young Vic Award and she was made an MBE for services to international theatre and young writers overseas in 2010. In 2019 The Royal Court Theatre announced a new biennial commission, in Dodgson's name, to support an international playwright to write a new play, with each award given to a playwright from a different region around the world.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodgson, Elyse English theatre managers and producers 1945 births 2018 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire