Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Born	1968 (age 55–56) Plymouth,England
Occupation	Playwright screenwriter
Alma mater	University of Kent(BA) Central School of Speech and Drama(BA)
Period	2000–present
Notable works	Her Naked Skin

Rebecca Lenkiewicz(born 1968) is a British playwright, screenwriter and former actress. She is best known as the author ofHer Naked Skin(2008), which was the first original play written by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage of theRoyal National Theatre.

Several of Lenkiewicz's plays have been published individually, and in 2013, Faber & Faber published a collection of her works.

Early life and education

Lenkiewicz was born inPlymouth,Devon, to Celia Mills and Peter Quint, a playwright. Her stepfather is the artistRobert Lenkiewicz.Her sister is the artist Alice Lenkiewicz,and her brother is the artist Wolfe von Lenkiewicz,who are both the children of Robert Lenkiewicz. Her other brothers are Peter Mills and Thomas Mills.

She attendedHyde Park Junior Schooland thenPlymouth High School for Girlsbefore progressing to a BA in Film and English at theUniversity of Kentfrom 1985 to 1989, then later to a BA Acting Course at theCentral School of Speech and Dramafrom 1996 to 1999. Initially she worked as an actor at theRoyal Shakespeare Companyand theRoyal National Theatre,notably in SirPeter Hall's production ofThe Bacchae.

Writing

Theatre

Lenkiewicz's first play wasSoho: A Tale of Table Dancerswhich she wrote for theRoyal Shakespeare CompanyFringe in 2000. It won a Fringe First award at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe.Helen Raynor's production was revived in London on 2 February 2001, the first play to be staged at theArcola Theatre.Lenkiewicz also appeared in the play in the role of Stella. Her second play,The Night Season(2004), set inSligo,tells the story of an Irish family, the Kennedys, and their attempts to find love. It was staged at theRoyal National Theatrein the Cottesloe auditorium byLucy Bailey.In 2005, Lenkiewicz'sShoreditch Madonna,directed bySean Mathias,was performed at theSoho Theatre.A tale of love among the artists in an East London gallery, it starredFrancesca AnnisandLeigh Lawson.

In 2006 Lenkiewicz wrote the script for the dance drama,Justitia,which was directed and choreographed byJasmin Vardimon.It was initially performed at thePeacock Theatreand has since been on tour.This was followed byInvisible Mountainstoured London schools as part of the National Theatre "Interact" project.She and Abdulkareem Kasid also created a new version ofThe Soldier's Tale,a music theatre piece byIgor StravinskyandCharles Ferdinand Ramuz,set in Iraq. It was staged at theOld Vic.Then in August, her hour-long playBlue Moon Over Poplarwas staged by theNational Youth Theatrecompany at the Soho Theatre as part of the NYT's Golden Jubilee.

In 2008, her adaptation ofHenrik Ibsen'sAn Enemy of the Peopleopened at the Arcola Theatre, directed by its founderMehmet Ergen.Her Naked Skin,directed byHoward Davies,premiered on the Olivier stage at the NT in July 2008. It describes the struggles faced by twosuffragettesimmediately prior toWorld War I.Faeries,was staged at The Egg,Theatre Royal Bath.Faeriesis an original drama for children, using puppetry. It tells the story of a girl evacuated duringWorld War II,and the adventures she has when she spends a night in the park. It was commissioned by theRoyal Opera House.

The Lioness(June 2010) was performed at the Tricycle Theatre. It describes meetings thatElizabeth Ihad withJohn KnoxandRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.Lenkiewicz adapted Ibsen'sGhostsfor a production at theArcola Theatrein August 2010.The National Youth Theatre, at the Tramway Theatre in Glasgow, performedStars over Kabul(September 2010). It tells the story of a young woman growing up in Kabul.

In January 2011 her playThe Painteron the life ofJ. M. W. Turnerpremiered at theArcola Theatreto mark its move into new premises.Lenkiewicz's adaptation ofHenry James' novellaThe Turn of the Screwwas performed at London'sAlmeida Theatre(18 January – 16 March 2013). It was directed byLindsay Posner

In 2014 Lenkiewicz wrote a short play,We Two Alone,inspired byKing Learand commissioned by RIFT Theatre for their Shakespeare in Shoreditch Festival. The production was directed by Tess Farley and Connor Abbott of Outbreak Theatre.Lenkiewicz's 2015Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkernconcerned one of the last witch-hunts and trials in England, that ofJane Wenham,whose outsider status is juxtaposed with the lot of other women in the village, including the daughter of a woman executed for witchcraft, a former slave, and a widow trying to run the village taphouse on her own.Her play,The Invisiblewas directed by Michael Oakley at the Bush Theatre. It ran from 3 July - 15 August 2015.

Lenkiewicz's shorter works include a contribution to24 Hour Plays(June 2005),Flowers in her Hair(March 2009),The Typist(June 2010),That Almost Unnameable Lust(Nov 2010). She translatedAvec Norm(2004) by Serge Boucher, which was performed in a public reading at the Centre des Auteurs Dramatiques (31 July 2007).

Radio

She wrote numerous productions for BBC Radio, such as:Fighting for Words(2005),Caravan of Desire,Blue Moon over Poplar(both 2006),The Man in the Suit,Sarah and Ken,Betty Lives in a Little Yellow House in Texas(all 2010),Burning UpandThe Phone(both 2011). She also wrote an adaptation ofDraculaandThe Winter House(2012), and a dramatisation of Anne Tyler'sDinner at the Homesick Restaurant(May 2013) andLadder of Years.

Film and television

Lenkiewicz wrote forSecret Diary of a Call GirlandThe Eddyon television. She co-wrote the Polish-language filmIda(2013) withPaweł Pawlikowski,its director. The film is set in Poland in the 1960s and is the story of what happens when a novitiate nun first learns that she is an orphan of Jewish parenthood. The first version of the screenplay was written in English by Lenkiewicz and Pawlikowski, when it had the working titleSister of Mercy.Pawlikowski then translated the screenplay into Polish and revised it.The screenplay forIdawon the European Screenwriter category at the27th European Film Awardsin 2014,and the Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the ceremony on 22 February 2015. She co-wrote, with director Sebastian Leilo, the script for the adaptation ofDisobediencein 2017.

In 2018, she and collaboratorsWash WestmorelandandRichard Glatzerwrote the screenplay forColette.She wrote the screenplay for the 2022 filmShe Said.

Filmography

Film

Writer

• Ida(2013)
• Disobedience(2017)
• Colette(2018)
• Servants(2020)
• She Said(2022)

Television

Writer

Year	Title	Notes
2008–2010	Secret Diary of a Call Girl	3 episodes
2020	The Eddy	2 episodes (Story only)
	Small Axe	5 episodes (Lead writer)

Executive producer

• The Woman in White(2018)

Awards

• The Critics' Circle Theatre Award for the most Promising Playwright 2004.
• Honorary degree by the University of Kent at Canterbury on 12 July 2012.
• Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, the European Film Award and the Bafta in 2015forIda.

External links

• Rebecca LenkiewiczatIMDb