Hannah Khalil, Playwright

LATEST NEWS

Hannah's play Trouf, (pictured above) a Tunisian version of Scenes from 75* Years will play in London on 6 and 7 July 2023 as part of Shubbak Fesival, book your tickets now!

Hannah was writer in residence at the Globe 2022. In December 2022 her play Hakawatis - a retelling of 1001 Nights played at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, while her adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Fir Tree returned to the main stage at the Globe making Hannah the first writer other than Shakespeare to have had her work on in both spaces at the Globe simultaneously. 

Hannah was also a Creative Fellow of the Samuel Beckett Archive for 2021/2022 and was named Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University, Spring 2021.

The first anthology of her work Hannah Khalil Plays of Arabic Heritage is published by Methuen (pictured).

Recent work includes Hannah's adaptation of Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII which played at Shakespeare's Globe in 2022, a new play for the students of Central School of Speech and Drama called The Censor or How to Put on a Political Play without being fined arrested and Mrs Scrooge a short interactive festive play is available to watch online now - commissioned by Fly High Stories and produced by Sarah Gain Productions. 

Other work for young people includes Myths and Adventures from Ancient Greece, featuring four Greek myths adapted into online puppet shows and brought to life by Peyvand Sadeghian, Ian Nicholson and Sam Wilde.

In November, Hannah's new version of Ovid's Penelope was live as part of 15 Heroines for the Jermyn Street Theatre. 

Hannah was due to have two plays opening in London in Spring 2020, A Museum in Baghdad  at The Kiln after an initial run at the Swan Theatre at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In addition, the world premiere of  Sleepwalking at Hampstead Theatre - unfortunately both were cancelled due to COVID. 

In 2019 Hannah was commissioned as part of the Arab British Centre and Dr Johnson’s House exhibition 'London’s Theatre of the East' about Arabs in Elizabethan and Johnson’s Britain. Her piece - Margaret White and the Alcoran of Mahomet formed part of the exhibition that ran at Dr Johnson’s House in London from November 2019 to February 2020.

Previous work includes Interference at National Theatre of Scotland, The Scar Test at Soho Theatre and Scenes from 68* Years directed by Chris White which ran at the Arcola in Dalston to critical and audience acclaim. It was nominated for the James Tait Black award.

Scenes has subsequently been produced at Golden Thread Theatre in San Francisco (April 2019) and it had a Tunisian production, called Trouf, directed by Chris White and Ghazi Zagbani which was performing at theatres across Tunis in autumn and winter 2019, and continues to be performed in rep (supported by British Council Tunisia and AFAC and produced by Alia Al Zougbi).

Radio plays include The Unwelcome, Last of the Pearl Fishers and The Deportation Room all for BBC Radio 4. Television work includes multiple episodes of the Channel 4 drama Hollyoaks.

Hannah was Writer on attachment at the Bush Theatre as part of Project 2036 from 2016-2017. She was awarded The Arab British Centre's prize for Culture 2017, and is under commission The Kiln, Soho Theatre,   The RSC and Fishamble Dublin, as well as developing new original dramas for television and a new drama commission for BBC Radio 4.