Anya
Reiss

Writer and Director for Theatre & TV

Anya Reiss began her writing career in theatre with her debut play Spur of the Moment at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010. She won the Most Promising Playwright Award at both the Critics Circle and Evening Standard awards that year, along with Best New Play at the TMAs.

Her follow-up play The Acid Test was staged at the same venue the next year, with her National Theatre Connections play Forty-Five Minutes following in 2013. Her original version of The Seagull, directed by Russell Bolam, was staged in 2012 at the Southwark Playhouse, and they worked on two further modern-day Chekhovs together - first at the same venue, then at the St James Theatre. Since then, Anya's version of Spring Awakening has toured with Headlong, and her adaptation of Oliver Twist was at the Regents' Park Theatre in 2017.

Anya's new version of The Seagull - directed by Jamie Lloyd, and starring Emilia Clarke - is debuting at the Harold Pinter Theatre in the summer of 2022.

In television, Anya is the creator, executive producer, and writer of the Starz series Becoming Elizabeth. Previously she was a lead writer on Channel 4's Ackley Bridge and a core writer on EastEnders.

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CV

Television

Writer & Creator & Executive Producer 

Becoming Elizabeth
8 x 60'
Producer George Ormond & George Faber (Exec Producers)

Elizabeth Tudor, an orphaned teenager who becomes embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court on her journey to secure the crown.

The Forge for Starz

Writer 

Dark Net

Co-created with Misha Glenny.

Cuba Pictures for BBC
In development
EastEnders
27 x 30'
Creator Tony Holland & Julia Smith
BBC for BBC One
Ackley Bridge (Series 1)
3 x 45'
Creator Malcolm Campbell, Kevin Erlis & Ayub Khan-Din

Comedy-drama set in a multicultural academy school.


The Forge for Channel 4

Theatre

Writer 

The Seagull
Producer Jamie Lloyd
Starring
  • Emilia Clarke
    •

    Chekhov adaptation. Performed in West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2022.

    Harold Pinter Theatre
    Oliver Twist
    Director Caroline Byrne

    Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens.

    Regent's Park Theatre, July 2017
    Uncle Vanya
    Producer Jagged Fence Productions
    Director Russell Bolam

    Chekhov adaptation.

    St James' Theatre
    Spring Awakening
    Producer Headlong, West Yorkshire Playhouse & Nuffield Theatre Co-Production
    Director Ben Kidd

    Frank Wedekind adaptation

    Tour
    Three Sisters
    Producer Jagged Fence Productions & Danielle Tarento

    Chekhov adaptation.

    Southwark Playhouse
    Forty Five Minutes
    Director Corinne Meredith

    Chaos erupts as students hurry to complete their UCAS applications before the deadline.

    Part of the 2013 NT Connections Festival.

    National Theatre / Orange Tree
    The Acid Test
    Director Simon Godwin

    An unruly comedy that asks whether age equals maturity.


    The Royal Court
    Spur of the Moment
    TMA Best New Play
    Director Jeremy Herrin

    Whilst Delilah's parents throw verbal grenades at one another, they barely notice their 21-year-old lodger beginning to notice their pre-teen daughter.


    The Royal Court

    Director 

    Extract from 'Circles'
    Writer Rachel De-Lahay
    Tristan Bates Theatre
    Heroines
    Writer Rachel De-Lahay

    24 hour plays

    National Theatre

    Film

    Writer 

    Handsome Devils
    In development