April De Angelis Explained

April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist^[1] of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University^[2] who trained at East 15 Acting School.

De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regiment theatre company.

In 1987, her play Breathless was a prize winner at the 1987 Second Wave Young Women's Writing Festival.

Her plays often feature historical figures. Playhouse Creatures and A Laughing Matter are set in the London theatrical milieu of the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. Wanderlust examines Victorian colonialism and Ironmistress is a verse play exploring Lady Charlotte Guest's factory ownership.

As a librettist, De Angelis contributed to the opera The Silent Twins (2007), composed by Errollyn Wallen, which is based on the case of June and Jennifer Gibbons.^[3]

De Angelis tends to write to commission and several of her plays have been produced by Max Stafford-Clark's Out of Joint theatre company.

Plays

• Breathless (1987)
• Women in Law (1988)
• Wanderlust (1988, Oval House Theatre Women's Workshop)
• Visitants (1988)
• Ironmistress (1989, Young Vic Theatre)
• Crux (1989, Paines Plough)
• Frankenstein (1989)
• The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (1991, Red Shift Theatre Company)
• Hush (1992, Royal Court Theatre)
• Greed (1993)
• Soft Vengeance (1993)
• Playhouse Creatures (Haymarket Theatre, 1993)
• The Positive Hour (1997, Out of Joint theatre company / Hampstead Theatre)
• A Warwickshire Testimony (1999, Royal Shakespeare Company)
• A Laughing Matter (2002, Out of Joint theatre company)
• Headstrong (2004, Royal National Theatre Shell Connections)
• Wild East (2005, Royal Court Theatre)
• Catch (2007, Royal Court Theatre)
• Wuthering Heights (2008)
• Jumpy (2011)
• After Electra (2015)
• My Brilliant Friend (2017)
• The Village (2018, Theatre Royal Stratford East)
• Wilderness (2019)
• Kerry Jackson (2020)
• Infamous (2023)
• The Divine Mrs S. (2024)

Libretti

• Pig
• Flight
• Silent Twins (2007)

Notes and References

1. Book: Jones. Eamonn. Marlow. Jean. More duologues for all accents and ages. 10 April 2011. 2004. Psychology Press. 978-0-87830-179-9. 9.
2. Chris Arnot "No bed of roses", The Guardian, 25 August 1999
3. April de Angelis "'Have I the strength to kill her?'", The Guardian, 28 June 2007