SEPTEMBER 2021

Dirty Pennies’ Melbourne production of Pramkicker has been postponed due to Covid. GO AWAY, YOU BORING PANDEMIC!

JULY 2021

Had such an amazing few days R&Ding my new (and for now SECRET) play at the Soho Theatre with some absolute class acts. What fun – my brain is fizzing.

JULY 2021

WOW FESTIVAL have reissued our Working Class panel as part of their WOW Fest Revisited talks pass, with the following brilliant women/events, if you fancy…

JUNE 2021

Only got asked to go on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row didn’t I… to talk about Essex and Essex girl stereotypes. A popular theme at the mo! LISTEN HERE

JUNE 2021

Giddy to be on a panel with legendary authors and illuminary Essex women Sarah Perry and Syd Moore – We Need To Talk About Essex Girls – the launch event of the brilliant Essex Book Festival. Amazing talk, loved it.

MAY 2021

Had an amazing time at Bath Festival launching Class Festival with our impassioned chat about our writing lives and our working class roots. So amazing to whoosh across the country on a train after the months of living in a covid bubble. Hello World!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

MAY 2021

WRITING AWAY FOR A THING! LUCKY! BUT ALSO – WRITING IS FOR CRAZY PEOPLE! ARGH!

APRIL 2021

Was honoured to write a short film for the mighty warriors We Make Events – shining a light on the amazing people who make live events happen – who have been forgotten during the shitstorm of Covid. It was a glorious day filming in the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with total babes Griff Rhys-Jones, Christopher Eccleston, Paul Whitehouse, Angus Deayton, Deborah Frances-White, Alessandro Babalola, Kemah Bob, Sindhu Vee, Kerry Howard, Nick Helm, Lucy Porter, Kevin Day and Stephen K Amos.

WATCH

MARCH 2021

WOW FESTIVAL A-GO-GO BABY!

Got quite pashed up about the working class, and read the Essex girl speech from my play Stiletto Beach.

FEBRUARY 2021

Had a chat on BBC Essex about Class Festival and our talk for WOW Festival! Lush!

FEBRUARY 2021

Pumped to record a panel talk for WOW Festival with my Class Festival sisters – authors Natasha Carthew, Mahsuda Snaith, and Sharon Duggal. Where Are All The Working Class Writers broadcasts 6 March 8pm.

JANUARY 2021

Got an exciting stage commission but can’t say anything! Argh!

DECEMBER 2020

MISFITS SELECTED AS TOP 10 LONDON SHOW!

“Working class stories are given centre stage, the theatrical equivalent of an LS Lowry painting in its depiction of the world of ordinary people who one might encounter on the train or in the supermarket”

MORE

DECEMBER 2020

Was interviewed for BBC News about ‘Essex Girl’ getting dropped from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary (WHOOP WHOOP!)

READ

Big up the EGLF!

SEPTEMBER 2020

Hooray! Misfits got some lovely reviews & won an OnComm Award! It’s been an emotional but joyous time creating new work during such a troubling time for theatre. I’m so grateful to Queen’s Theatre for commissioning me to write for them again, and I’m so proud of everything that our beautiful team achieved.

“Four monologues that fizz… The writing is the show’s biggest strength; zingy lines & much eloquent introspection… ” The Guardian

“Sharply written…a compelling snapshot of contemporary Essex… In Sadie Hasler’s gorgeously observed Everybody Gets Born Gemma Salter revels in every richly rendered turn of phrase… gripping… an infectious energy” ★★★★ The Stage

“Working-class stories are given centre stage, the theatrical equivalent of an LS Lowry painting… The beauty of this piece of theatre is in its relative simplicity, in its relatability, and in its portrayal of an Essex its residents will recognise.” ★★★★  LondonTheatre1

“Excellent… beautifully different… complex…brightly written & engaging, with a neat mix of comedy & emotional truth… Tremendous…” Aleks Sierz

“Hugely energetic …beautifully performed…crackles” ★★★★  British Theatre

“A triumph”  Romford Recorder

BUY THE PLAYSCRIPT

SEPTEMBER 2020

Currently on commission:

MISFITS – PREMIERES NOVEMBER 2020 Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch – LONDON THEATRE OF THE YEAR

LOST • THROWN • FOUND • SEEN – Interactive Photo-Art Installation for Kinetika – Thurrock 100 as part of Totally Thames Festival 2020

AUGUST 2020

Happy & honoured to be asked to be on the advisory board for the fantastic and much-needed Working Class Writers Festival, working towards the inaugural festival in partnership with Bristol Festival of Ideas in 2021, and then the Working Class Women Writers Touring Festival in 2022. Also very excited to say I’ll be contributing to the accompanying book COMMON GOSSIP. Thanks so much to brilliant author & firecracker Natasha Carthew for inviting me aboard.

MARCH 2020

Had a brilliant day leading an Old Trunk workshop on New Writing for Caspa Arts at The Mono Box. The girls treated us to a little Pramkicker reading, and then we got them started on their own piece of work. Very proud to see what they had created at the end, and to know they’ll continue working on it for a showcase at Baron’s Court Theatre in April. NEW WRITING IS SO FUN.

FEBRUARY 2020

Honoured to have made it onto Mercury Creatives with Old Trunk, a top notch competitive scheme from the Mercury Theatre, with support from the super sexy European Regional Development Fund. JE SUIS EUROPEAN TOUJOURS.

FEBRUARY 2020

Little bean & I currently feature in This Is What An Essex Girl Looks Like exhibition at the Beecroft Gallery. On until 17th October.

DECEMBER 2019

Lovely to see that Last Christmas is on BBC Radio 4 as Book of the Week!

If audio versions are your jam, then it is also available on Audible here.

DECEMBER 2019

Such joy to be a small part of this amazing book – with amazing words from Meryl Streep, Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry, Stanley Tucci, loads of others. My piece is about finding joy in Christmas again after years of feeling lost in grief. Please buy this book for anyone who loves stories about humans, or those who struggle at Christmas and could do with some uplifting solidarity. Proceeds go to Crisis and the Refugee Council.

Very chuffed to also have been quoted in the introduction by Greg & Emma too.

DECEMBER 2019

On the BBC News site – as part of photographer Mark Massey’s project Essex Girls.

Feels like this year has been a big one for tackling the stereotype!

NOVEMBER 2019

IT’S OUT! IT’S LOVELY! And proceeds go to the homeless and refugees! So honoured to be a part of this beautiful thing.

Buy LAST CHRISTMAS from Waterstones or independent bookshops.

NOVEMBER 2019

Honoured to be asked to be part of the EGLF’s This Is What An Essex Girl Looks Like exhibition at the Beecroft Art Gallery. Marcie’s first photo shoot!  (That oversized t-shirt on her almost cracked my chest open…) 

The exhibition runs until next year if you fancy catching it.

 

OCTOBER 2019

Lovely to hear Greg Wise & Emma Thompson are recording an audiobook of Last Christmas, the book they co-edited to accompany the film. I’m very honoured to have been asked to contribute an essay to this lovely book, featuring Emilia Clarke, Meryl Streep, Olivia Colman, Twiggy, Deborah Frances-White, many others, and, er, me. Crikey. Can’t wait to see the book in the flesh! Out 31st October from Quercus.

OCTOBER 2019

Had such a gorgeous weekend hosting Outer Limits Southend; our Old Trunk edition of the popular new writing event by our lovely pals Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch. Such amazing talent! Heart properly brimming with all the feelings! Hope to do it again.

SEPTEMBER 2019

WOW. Stiletto Beach, you’ve been such a massive part of my year. Thank you so much to all the people who have brought the play to life; my amazing cast & creative team who worked so hard. Massive love to Douglas Rintoul and Mathew Russell at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch for putting such faith in me. Will never forget the experience, or the incredible response from the audiences. Had some amazing people in, it was very overwhelming at times.

READ MORE LOVELY THINGS THAT MADE ME CRY

AUGUST 2019

Stiletto Beach PR gathers apace! Just did a lovely interview with BBC News.

Here’s the last interview I did for BBC News on the subject of the bloody Essex Girl stereotype.

JULY 2019

This happened!

JUNE 2019

Pramkicker had a lovely run at The Hope Theatre in London. Heard great things!

JUNE 2019

Had the honour of guesting on a couple of rad podcasts this month. The Trapdoor with Sophie Black, and Funny Mummies with Abigail Burdess & Hatty Ashdown on Soho Radio. Lovely candid funny chats about mumhood, rage, scars, post birth feels, & all sorts.

JUNE 2019

Imagine the lovely little heart attack I had when I was reading my National Theatre newsletter and saw Stiletto Beach at the bottom! Madness!

JUNE 2019

Exciting day holding auditions for Stiletto Beach with director Emma Baggott. SUCH AMAZING TALENT CAME THROUGH THE DOOR; I CANNOT WAIT TO FINALISE THE CAST AND SEE THEM IN ACTION.

I may cry. I will cry.

 

JUNE 2019

Another outing for Pramkicker in Italy! This time at the Teatro Menotti in Milan, then on to Scintille Teatro Festival in Asti. Last year it went to Studio Uno in Rome, and Teatro Sociale in Gualtieri. Sending lots of love to the company! (Man I wish I could go. I miss Italy!)

JUNE 2019

My birthday coincided with a cheeky little production of Pramkicker at the award-winning Hope Theatre in London. The image they used for the poster really made me laugh… I didn’t get to see it but I received some lovely feedback from industry & audience members so I hope the company had fun and were happy.

MAY 2019

So delighted to have ace director Emma Bagott (RSC / Young Vic / “Astute, clever” – Guardian) on board for Stiletto Beach. Looking forward to kicking back with a daiquiri while she makes the words come alive like a voodoo woman making sand dance. Or something.

MAY 2019

Laughed so hard on The Guilty Feminist Live Tour last night! Maximum fun with some brilliant women,  & a beautiful plug for Stiletto Beach from Deborah, who has always been such an incredible champion of my work and it’s never forgotten and always appreciated.

 

MAY 2019

Stoked to appear on The Guilty Feminist Podcast again – this time part of the supercool Live Tour. IN MY HOMETOWN!

Sunday 12th May – Cliffs Pavilion, Southend – BOOK

 

MAY 2019

Just managed to sneak in a bit of writing for a book I’ve been asked to contribute to. I don’t think I can say what it is yet, but I was supremely honoured (giddy and a bit sick actually) to write a short story for these fine people, and I should think it’ll be out in good time for Christmas…

MAY 2019

How lovely to have Stiletto Beach feature in this Virago piece – Five Feminist Things I’m Excited About Right Now by Deborah Frances-White. Alongside theatre happening Emilia & Hannah Gadsby of Nanette fame. Wow. READ IN FULL.

APRIL 2019

Super excited to be doing Latitude again this year, my fifth time performing at this beautiful festival. Us Old Trunk gals will be creating a show called Cunts & Flowers, using characters from my one-woman show Lady Bones. Will be interesting revisiting old friends while creating new work. Think we’re going to have a lot of fun playing around with this one.

APRIL 2019

Was honoured to be invited to speak to 3rd year students at LAMDA as they rehearsed the brilliant So Here We Are by Luke Norris, directed by the excellent Caroline Leslie, assisted by Anna Clart.

Went to see the production a week later, and what a beautiful thing. Will be watching out for these faces – such talent! Set in my hometown Southend and featuring the theme of suicide, my little heart was a bit pounded by the end of it. Powerful stuff, very close to home and heart.

Cast: Akiel Dowe, Alex Heath, Amy Vicary-Smith, Ethan Moorhouse, Samuel Morgan-Davies, Stanley Morgan – ALL AMAZING

 

MARCH 2019

Absolutely buzzing after the Stiletto Beach reading at Queen’s Theatre.

Had a cracking director in award-nominated Grace Duggan and a fantastic cast: Anne Odeke, David Hemsted, Rachel Keys, Saskia Marland, & Wendy Morgan.

“A BAWDY FEMINIST FIREBALL!” – QUEEN’S THEATRE

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE NEWS ON STILETTO BEACH

 

JANUARY 2019

PRAMKICKER RUN AT VAULT FESTIVAL LONDON IS SOLD OUT.

 

JANUARY 2019

MULTI-TASKING A-GO-GO. Pushing Pramkicker while writing Stiletto Beach while moving house. Cool.

JANUARY 2019

OOFF. DEADLINE CITY. WORKING ON THIS BAD GIRL. While moving house and being a mama. YES THAT’S RIGHT. 🧠💥

So delighted to receive tough-to-nail Arts Council funding in this difficult climate to write Stiletto Beach. Thanks so much ACE, you total peaches!  

ALSO…

After missing playing Jude & Susie while they’ve been globetrotting in other productions, Mayhew & I are doing 2 nights of Pramkicker at the mighty Vault Festival London. So much fun! 23rd & 24th January, 18:10. Tickets flying so book ahead.

DECEMBER 2018

The most wonderful cardboard scroll turned up at my door from across the Atlantic, holding the Culture section of the Washington Post, some ace Pramkicker posters by Ryan Carroll Nelson, & one of the most beautiful letters I have ever received, from Marcus Kyd of Taffety Punk theatre company. Marcus you bastard, I nearly exploded.

Congratulations to all at Taffety Punk for getting ‘Best Theater of 2018’ love in this bad boy of a paper. And for keeping me in the loop in a warm & inclusive way that writers don’t often get to enjoy when people request to use their words. Big love to my Jude & Susie – Esther Williamson & Tonya Beckman, & to director Linda Lombardi.

DECEMBER 2018

Emitted a little squeal when I heard that Pramkicker was amongst the crop of plays picked by The Washington Post as the Best Theatre of 2018 , alongside Hamilton, Hamlet, & Every Brilliant Thing! Beautiful work, Taffety Punk! X

 

DECEMBER 2018

Fran & Leni, my play about punk & friendship, is kicking its Doctor Martens in Chicago this month, with a reading at super cool venue The Boxcar, part of Steep Theater. Cool!

DECEMBER 2018

Completely amazed & thoroughly honoured to receive an award from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation supporting my work as a playwright. Peggy was the most influential British theatrical agent of the last century and a wonderful lady – said to be simultaneously mercurial, severe and bossy, but with a wild sense of humour. She also said “Fuck the critics.” Top lady.

One of her dearest friends and Founder/Trustee of the Foundation, Simon Callow, said for her “a play was never just a play, an author was not just an author: both had the possibility of transcending themselves, and must be given every chance to do so.”  Callow’s book of her collected letters is next on my bedside reading list. I want to hear all about the woman who has posthumously supported playwrights like a fierce mama lion.

I’ll be tapping away for you, Peggy! Thank you (and the Foundation) for the kick up the writer’s bum from beyond the grave. If only I could have met you in person.   

NOVEMBER 2018

Very honoured to have been asked to write one of 3 new plays for the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch‘s exciting new season Essex On Stage next spring. Deciding to tackle the theme of Essex Girls & what a pain in the tits that tired stereotype still is, I had about 20 possible titles jumping round my head until I finally tied my brain down to Stiletto Beach. Ideas whirling about & excited to begin!

 

NOVEMBER 2018

Don’t mind admitting I got a bit wet-eyed reading the reviews of the Sydney production of Pramkicker. Having women around the world performing my words has been one of the highlights of my year after becoming a mother. Strange but beautifully apt that reading these reviews of my play about motherhood and not-motherhood, and having contact with these fantastic female companies has kept my playwright brain busy and content while I’ve taken time to tackle being a mother myself, this brilliant new business of raising a tiny new woman…

“Famously the TV show , The Thick of It, employed a swearing consultant and Sadie Hasler has a very similar gift for the sweeping use of bad language for comic effect… it is uproariously enjoyable to the ear and combined with the wit of the insults, banter and characterization of the piece it becomes an adjunct layer of the story.” – SYDNEY ARTS GUIDE – FULL REVIEW

“Dialogue in Pramkicker is deliciously witty, with some truly scintillating perspectives of life that are brutally honest but rarely disclosed. The characters go through wonderful transformations during the course of the play, for deeply beautiful depictions of sisterhood and of female sovereignty. Emotionally robust, the show takes us from ecstatic laughter to exquisite poignancy.” – SUZY GOES SEE – FULL REVIEW

OCTOBER 2018

Lovely interview in Theatre Travels with Linda Nicholls-Gidley, director of the Sydney premiere of Pramkicker opening on the 25th, talking about what the writing and themes mean to her. ❤️

“When I started to read it I felt a strong affinity with the story. Hasler writes from her own experiences but the could be the experience of everywoman. I understood the frustration and the hurt of the characters, I had been a part of those conversations, I knew those narratives intimately. Hasler’s writing is raw and pulls no punches. These were stories that I needed to tell…”

OCTOBER 2018

I was asked to write a piece for an exhibition called THINGS by Tamara Projects.

The brief was to write an Ebay listing for an object. My given object was a pair of cute old binoculars. The listing runs for real on Ebay for the duration of the exhibition, to see if it sells.

I mulled over the possible story of the object for some time, thinking about themes such as voyeurism and nature, but in the end when I sat down to write I went off in an unexpected direction, writing spontaneously while my baby slept. Stolen time! A character started speaking to me, and I wasn’t in control anymore.

Lovely to write something short and self-contained for a different audience.

 

 

SEPTEMBER 2018

I’ve been so happy to read the wonderful reviews for Taffety Punk’s production of Pramkicker over the pond in Washington DC, including a cracking one in the Washington Post…

“Sadie Hasler’s bruising comedy takes an irreverent point of view. A funny, verbally brutal two-woman play…a blistering script…unfolds with the energy of a barroom tale…” – WASHINGTON POST

FULL REVIEW

“Funny and moving…a perfect night of theater … The stars are aligning on Capitol Hill… Pramkicker scores big on all levels…” – BROADWAY WORLD

FULL REVIEW

“It doesn’t get better than this” – DC METRO 

FULL REVIEW

“Witty & ribald” – DC THEATRE SCENE

FULL REVIEW

“A scintillating kick of a story… The writing is so deft… Don’t miss Pramkicker. It’s witty and funny and serious and gives one hope for surviving what life throws at us” – MARYLAND THEATRE SCENE 

FULL REVIEW

Pramkicker at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (Taffety Punk Theatre Co)

AUGUST 2018

Very honoured to be asked to be a guest on super hot podcast The Guilty Feminist, talking about Pramkicker and the theme of Indecision. Deborah was lovely enough to say she thought Pramkicker was the most important play of the last decade. I think she might have been drinking but I’ll take it anyway.

From the Washington Post mag…

 

JANUARY 2018

Plotting some big changes, some fun events, & a bold new show…

I’m up the duff so things will be a little different for a while, but Old Trunk are taking it in our stride & using it as feist fodder! 💥

DECEMBER 2017

Popped in to see Network at the National Theatre (BRYAN CRANSTON – YES) & spotted Fran & Leni still on the Recommends shelf – after a ruddy year! HOLY SMOKE!

DECEMBER 2017

It was dead fun to return to some old characters for Damn Write.

I reprised my old favourite, Katharine Hepburn, from my one woman show Lady Bones.

Thanks to all who made the night such a success!

 

NOVEMBER 2017

Hooray! Pramkicker is on its travels again. 🚀

Not content with a cheeky little performance at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC in September, the rights were requested for a Rome translation/production last week, & this week for a kick-ass production in Sydney!

Intercontinental funtimes! 🇺🇸🇮🇹

OCTOBER 2017

JUST IN: The rights have been requested to translate Pramkicker into Italian for a run in Rome! Mama mia!

OCTOBER 2017

Just had the most brilliant Away Day with top director Doug Rintoul at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch, hosted just for Old Trunk. Lucky girls! We went through everything with a theatrical scalpel and have some very exciting ideas and plans. All hush-hush for now. Thank you so much, Doug!

SEPTEMBER 2017

Pramkicker is being performed at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC as part of the  Page-to-Stage Festival – part of the Kennedy Center’s Centennial Celebration of President John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday. Cool! Page-to-Stage puts an emphasis on Courage, one of the five ideals ascribed to President Kennedy. COURAGE IS GREAT.

AUGUST 2017

Lovely to hear that Bloomsbury have had to do yet another print run of Pramkicker! Here’s one facing out on the shelves of Waterstones Piccadilly!

 

JULY 2017 

Damn proud to say that Fran & Leni has been nominated for Best Drama in the Manchester Fringe Awards. I’ve been nominated for Best Actor too!

JULY 2017 

Pretty darned excited to hit the road for our final three 2017 dates.

Catch us in Manchester and London

July 27/28  – Manchester Fringe  King’s Arms – Fran & Leni

August 1-6   – King’s Head LBGTQ Festival – Fran & Leni

August  21/24 – Camden Fringe – Camden People’s Theatre  – Pramkicker

Time Out thought Pramkicker was well worth a pimp

APRIL 2017 

Fran & Leni hit the ROAD. (We’ve snuck in some cheeky Pramkicker as well…)

April 19  – Palace Theatre, Southend – Fran & Leni

April 22 – Palace Theatre, Southend – Pramkicker and Fran & Leni

May 3  – Norwich Arts Centre   Fran & Leni

May 17 – Colchester Arts Centre – Fran & Leni

May 25/26  – Brighton Fringe  Marlborough Theatre  – Fran & Leni

June 27 – Off Beat Festival  Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford Playhouse  – Fran & Leni

July 27/28  – Manchester Fringe  King’s Arms – Fran & Leni

August 1-6   – King’s Head Theatre’s LGBTQ Festival – Fran & Leni

August  21/24 – Camden Fringe – Camden People’s Theatre  – Pramkicker

MARCH 2017 

International Women’s Day!

We celebrated the day with our pals at Metal Southend where we presented an open chat on the theme of The Invisible Woman, tackling questions such as Are we seen? Do we feel seen? Do we want to be seen? How do we want to be seen? And is being seen a power we gain then lose as we get older?

So many brilliant women came and spoke and shared. It was overwhelming to hear young and older voices conversing agreeing, advising and connecting.

JANUARY 2017

We had a fabulous time at the VAULT Fest. Great atmosphere, brilliant space and a tech & FOH team that were ON IT.

And… we were Highly Commended. 💥

FRAN & LENI – VAULT TRAILER – JAN 2017

DECEMBER 2016

Following a sold out performance of Fran & Leni in our hometown premiering the music written for the play by Fi & Dave Dulake of Tuppenny Bunters, we’re getting ready for our run at Vault Festival 25-29th January, and programming our 2017 beyond.

Exciting news being kept under our hats!

NOVEMBER 2016

Fran & Leni came home and enjoyed a sell out run at our beloved Railway, & combined it with a little book launch for the playscript!

AUGUST 2016 

Fran & Leni heads to Edinburgh.

So happy to be back at Assembly. This time we are in THE BOX. Every day 15:05.

AND

Fran & Leni has been published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

JULY 2016 

Fran & Leni premieres at LATITUDE 

MAY-JULY 2016 

Pramkicker is on TOUR.