Martha Watson Allpress

Martha Watson Allpress is an award winning, working-class writer from the East Midlands.

Her debut play, Patricia Gets Ready (for a date with the man that used to hit her), received 5 star reviews (The Guardian, The Stage, Broadway World) and her second, Kick, won the Bill Cashmore Award and was staged for a limited run at the Lyric Hammersmith. In 2023 her play, Lady Dealer, premiered to critical acclaim at Paines Plough’s Roundabout in Edinburgh before transferring to The Bush for a five-week London run in May 2024. Martha was announced as the winner for the 2023 Ambassador Theatre Groups Playwrights Prize for her script, Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings in the Back Row. She is currently under commission to Nottingham Playhouse.

She has been shortlisted, and longlisted, for a number of awards and programmes, including the Verity Bargate Award, the Women’s Prize for Playwrighting, Blacklight’s 4Stories and the BBC Script Academy. She was also a supported writer under HighTide’s Lighthouse scheme and Hampstead Theatre’s INSPIRE programme.

As a screenwriter Martha is currently adapting Patricia with Various Artists Ltd and developing an original series, Fish Town, with Red Planet Pictures.

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