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Royal Court stages family drama by girl, aged 17
Peter Dominiczak27 Jul 2009
A schoolgirl is set to have her first play staged at the Royal Court.
Anya Reiss, 17, wrote Spur of the Moment while she was on the theatre's young writers programme. The artistic directors were so impressed by her work that the play is to be performed at the Sloane Square theatre next year.
Described as an expletive-strewn family drama, Spur of the Moment is centred on 12-year-old Delilah, her warring parents, Nick and Vicky, and a lodger Daniel, who is brought in to ease the family's financial difficulties.
In one scene, Delilah kisses the lodger, who is in his early twenties.
Ms Reiss, whose father Robert is a canon at Westminster Abbey, said the play was not autobiographical. She said: "It's more the what if I had done or said something when I was younger.
"When you are 17, the family is the thing that you see having the most power in people's lives. You also get exposure not only to your own but other people's families much more than at any other age. You see things that are forgotten or hidden to others.
"The key things in the play are lack of communication, impulse and its consequences, selfishness and the family dynamic."
Ms Reiss is due to take A-levels in English, theatre studies and history at Francis Holland school next year.
Jeremy Herrin, deputy artistic director of the Royal Court, said: "It is a really exciting discovery. We were all amazed at how precocious Anya is and how exciting her voice is.
"Anya is very gifted and her play is emotionally authentic."
If the production goes ahead, it will make Ms Reiss the second youngest playwright to have a play staged at the Royal Court.
Andrea Dunbar was 15 when her first play, The Arbour, was staged at the theatre in 1980, and Polly Stenham was 20 when her runaway success That Face was produced in 2007.
Dominic Cooke, artistic director of the Royal Court, said: Anya's play is funny, shocking and wise beyond her years, and it's all down to her exceptional talent, and the hard work that goes on in our Young Writers Groups."
Spur of the Moment is expected to be performed at the Royal Court next year.
