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

The Effect ''The Effect'' is a 2012 play by the British playwright Lucy Prebble. It received its world premiere at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in November 2012, and starred Billie Piper and Jonjo O'Neill. Production ''The Effect'', a Th ...

'', '' ENRON'' and '' A Very Expensive Poison''. For television she adapted '' Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' and co-created '' I Hate Suzie'' with her close friend Billie Piper. Since 2018, Prebble is Co-Executive Producer and writer on ''

Succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

''.

Biography

Prebble grew up in Haslemere,

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 Are ...

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

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth C ...

, 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, '' The Sugar Syndrome'' 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, followed by the TMA Award for Best New Play in October 2004. Her next theatre project '' ENRON'', 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 play earned Prebble an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play. The production's Broadway transfer opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in April 2010 but failed to match the critical acclaim it received in the UK and closed the following month. ''

'', 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 at the Barrow Street Theatre on 2 March 2016, directed by David Cromer, 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 execu ...

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, M ...

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 ...

. 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 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 Billie Piper. 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, '' I Hate Suzie'' 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 award-winning HBO drama ''

'', 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 oft ...

'', 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, ele ...

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

Works

Theatre

*''Liquid'', 2002 *'' The Sugar Syndrome'', Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, London, November 2003 *''

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 compani ...

'', Chichester Festival Theatre / Royal Court Theatre / Noel Coward Theatre, London, 2009; Broadhurst Theatre, New York City, 2010 *''

'', 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

*'' Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' (2007–2011) *''

'' (2018– ) *'' I Hate Suzie'' (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