[BLANK]: (National Theatre Connections Edition) (Oberon Modern Plays)

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Birch adapted Sally Rooney's novel Normal People for television with Rooney herself and writer Mark O'Rowe. [50] The Normal People TV series was released in April 2020. [51] Before the release of Normal People, it was announced that Birch would also adapt Rooney's novel Conversations with Friends for television. [52]

Sims, David (13 July 2017). " 'Lady Macbeth' Is a Brilliantly Macabre Period Drama". The Atlantic . Retrieved 18 March 2020. She says her father always knew she was going to be a writer, perhaps because, aged 7, she wrote her first pantomime and forced her friends to be in it. “Horrible child! It’s the only thing I can really remember wanting to do. I was good at playing on my own – I used to line pens up and talk to them.” As story editor on the dazzling second series of Succession, Birch was heavily involved in its deftly handled #MeToo storyline. The show’s creator Jesse Armstrong had admired Lady Macbeth and invited Birch for a cup of tea; she ended up joining the writers’ room in Brixton where she was one of five women with Lucy Prebble, Georgia Pritchett, Mary Laws and Susan Soon He Stanton. “It was the most wonderful job,” she says. “Such a funny room to be in.” Wyver, Kate (17 August 2018). "La Maladie de la Mort review – clinical dissection of male gaze". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 March 2020.Director Maria Aberg and a brilliant cast of 14 women and two young girls rise to the occasion. Over and over again, they plunge straight in, with intense and sometimes harrowing emotion. They are assisted by a clever and highly adaptable double height set designed by Rosie Elnile. Lodderhose, Diana (10 November 2016). "James Schamus Teams With Euro Partners For Karl Marx Family Series 'Love And Capital' ". Deadline . Retrieved 6 March 2020.

Alice Birch’s heartbreaking new play reaches across society to explore the impact of the criminal justice system on women and their families. Billington, Michael (9 February 2015). "Little Light review – Alice Birch's play tests its performers (and our patience)". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 17 March 2020.a b "Bafta awards 2018: full list of winners". The Irish Times. 18 February 2018 . Retrieved 6 March 2020.

Have her family politics affected her own? “I remember my stepdad calling me an armchair feminist when I was about 14, which made me really furious. He was probably right. I’ve tried to get out of the armchair.” BLANK] is all about the connections between lives. Commissioned by Clean Break, a theatre company that works with women affected by the criminal justice system, it is a “modular play”. Alice Birch wrote 100 scenes, and directors are invited to choose their own adventure. There are no names in the script, so it is up to them to decide if the same characters recur across the narrative, or if the scenes fit together like jagged, unconnected shards. Near the end of the interview she finally shrugs off the jumper. I suddenly see she’s pregnant. This really will be a big year. When is she due? “Not long now, 8 March.” She laughs. “ International Women’s Day. It’s great.” Bowie-Sell, Daisy (1 June 2011). "Many Moons, Theatre503, London, review". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235 . Retrieved 17 March 2020.

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At the Donmar, she is aware that the play will be seen largely by people like herself – a self-confessed “bleeding-heart liberal”. Does she think that theatre can effect change? “Not really, no. And I don’t think that’s what theatre is for. Hopefully there’s one audience member who feels changed in a profound way, but it’s a much longer process. Sometimes we look for immediate change, and that feels false, inauthentic and knee-jerk. I think there’s an arrogance that suggests that theatre can change the world. One of the arresting things about Revolt was that it was a play, above all, about language: how the words men and women use with each other shape their relationships and society at large. For all its satirical punch, it was a kind of manifesto for how we might treat one another more kindly and equally. She looks thoughtful. “For me it’s the whole job, language – those are the tools. It’s quite old-fashioned. I take it really seriously.” There are two key pillars of a Clean Break commission: that it must explore the criminalisation of women, and be performed by an all-women cast. Hopefully there’s one audience member who feels changed in a profound way, but it’s a much longer process’ a b Skethway, Nathan (2019-10-16). "New Photos From the World Premiere of Alice Birch's [BLANK] in London". Playbill . Retrieved 2022-11-15.

Saville, Alice (2019-10-17). " '[Blank]' review | Theatre in London". Time Out London . Retrieved 2022-11-15. Rumours circulated in the summer about you working with Taylor Swift on a meta-feminist TV show. Is that true?

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I heard she and her sister grew up on a commune? “Near Malvern. It’s called Birchwood Hall. My parents weren’t married, so they called us both Birch.” She smiles. “I always think that’s the most interesting thing about me. But we were only there until I was about five.” In the 2000s we expanded the offer of short courses to create different pathways into the arts for students: from stage management to poetry, voice and singing, workshop skills, literacy and playwrighting. We also developed specialist courses in self-development, anger management, and wellbeing in recognition that these life skills were vital for Clean Break students to progress. By the late 2000s we were running 30 accredited and non-accredited courses for over 200 women per year. Many women studied with us over a period of years, progressing from short courses to longer term accredited courses. Give yourself permission to write. Do it for yourself. Read, read, read. And, because this industry is tough, be very kind to yourself, too. Clements, Andrew (5 June 2022). "Violet review – Coult's debut opera opens Aldeburgh with assurance". the Guardian . Retrieved 12 June 2022. As the issues pile up - poor parenting, mental health problems and urban loneliness - the criminal justice system appears to be broken: even when it tries to help an imprisoned pregnant woman, by offering her a place in a mother and baby unit, it turns out that this is located a huge distance away from her children. In this dark vision of troubled women everyone is imprisoned, whether they are literally incarcerated or not. In a show in which some scenes are just seconds long, everywhere you look you see solitary women and lost children. A shadow of damage pervades the whole evening, with the threat of suicide ever present.