Bridget Foreman
'Bridget Foreman's moving, resonant play'
The Guardian ✮✮✮✮
I am an internationally-performed playwright of over 30 plays, ranging from one-person shows to large-scale community productions. Recent work includes Cups on a String for Riding Lights, The Bare Bones (staged reading, York Theare Royal), My Place for Riding Lights Theatre Company, two short screenplays, 5-Minute Call for York Theatre Royal, and The Whispering House, a filmed Community Production commemorating the Census. Everthing is Possible for York Theatre Royal / Pilot Theatre was given 4 stars in The Guardian, and In Fog and Falling Snow (co-written with Mike Kenny) was listed as number 1 of The Guardian's top 10 plays of 2015 by reviewer Alfred Hickling, and also given 4 stars. The show was also the subject of one of BBC 4's On Stage documentaries.
Bridget Foreman
Playwright
Playwright
Playwriting
I've been writing plays for over 25 years, following a degree at Oxford University and membership of the National Youth Theatre. I'm also a graduate of ARISTA's ADEPT screenwriting programme, and am a Senior Lecturer in playwriting at the University of York.
I've always written to commission, and my work has been produced in everything from village halls to main stages, from Bridlington to Brisbane. I enjoy collaborative work and many of my early plays were written out of the devising process. I've gone on to write musicals, adaptations and straight plays. Some of these have won awards.
Current Projects
His Last Report
The past is back. And it's got something to say.
Tue 22 Jul - Sun 03 Aug 2025, York Theatre Royal
A YORK THEATRE ROYAL PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH RIDING LIGHTS THEATRE COMPANY
Written by Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman
Directed by Juliet Forster and Paul Birch
Directed by Juliet Forster and Paul Birch
It’s the 1890s, and business is booming at Rowntree’s Cocoa Works in York. A new factory and new products feeding a growing appetite for all things sugary. But in the backstreets and snickleways, life is far from sweet.
As Seebohm Rowntree uncovers and documents the rising tide of York’s poverty, he is pushed into the front line of the battle to provide fair wages, health and education for all, and pulled into a time and world he could never imagine. His vision sows the seeds of the welfare state, flourishing in York into pageants and plays, gymnastics and gardening: wealth and wellbeing for the entire community. Is this what the future looks like?
This summer, York’s residents take to the stage to share an unforgettable local story with national impact. With a large-scale cast and live choir, His Last Report plunges us into an astonishing past and bursts from its pages with searching questions for today.
His Last Report is the latest of York Theatre Royal’s celebrated community productions. Made in association with Riding Lights Theatre Company and with our partners Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and Crombie Wilkinson.
Cups on a String
National Tour, Riding Lights Theatre Company
Directed by David Gilbert. Designed by Sean Cavanagh
"You think I’m some kind of broken kid and you just want to fix me. With games."
Joe’s eleven and home is hard. School is even harder. He breaks stuff: pencils, chairs, rules. One thing he won’t break is his silence.
Heather’s fifty-seven. She’s got a comfortable life and a comfortable home. But her comfortable world is about to be turned upside down as she and Joe spend an hour a week together. Every week. For a year.
Where will this journey of hours and weeks take them?
The Bare Bones
Staged Reading - 2023 New Plays Festival, York Theatre Royal & RSC 37 Plays
In 2012, the bones of a long-dead king are uncovered in a Leicester car park. Four hundred years earlier, the same king is buried in myth by a wildly successful play. The Bare Bones holds history to account, conjuring the riotous world of Elizabethan theatre, the weary soldiers trudging home from Bosworth Field, and the quiet scrutiny of the forensic lab.
You'll find information on this site about how I work, what I've written and what I'm working on at the moment. There are also details about how to contact me if you want to know more or if you've got a project you'd like to discuss.