Abbie
Spallen

Playwright and writer for film, radio and television

Abbie is a multi award winning playwright and screenwriter. Her awards include the Stewart Parker major award, The Tony Doyle award, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, The Peggy Ramsay award, The Dublin City Council Bursary for Literature and the HALMA Foundation award for excellence in the European arts. 

In 2013 she was awarded the Major Individual Award by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Her work is published by Faber and has been produced at The bush London, The Traverse Edinburgh, MTC NEW York, The Project Dublin, The Tricycle London and in the National Theatre Studio. 

She has recently completed her second attachment to the Royal Court Theatre where she was awarded the Clare McIntyre Bursary and is currently writer in residence in the Lyric Theatre Belfast. 

As well as developing various film projects she is under commission to the Royal National Theatre, The Lyric Belfast, The Tricycle and BBC Radio 4.

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CV

Theatre

Writer 

Poena 5x1
Producer Robert Shaw

New Commission by Inside Intelligence
Lally the Scut
Producer Tinderbox
Director Michael Duke
Starring
  • Roisin Gallagher
  • Michael Condron
  • Carol Moore
    •
    MAC
    Queens of Country
    Full length musical for Lyric Theatre Belfast
    Lyric Theatre Belfast
    Strandline
    Producer Red Orchid
    Director JR Sullivan
    Red Orchid Theatre
    Pumpgirl
    Director Carolyn Cantor
    Starring
  • Hannah Cabell
  • Geraldine Hughes
  • Paul Sparks
    •

    American premiere of Abbie's play

    Manhattan Theatre Club
    Untitled Commission
    Full length play for the Olivier Theatre
    National Theatre
    The Tower

    Recipient of the Clare McIntyre Bursary from the Royal Court

    Royal Court Theatre
    Untitled Commission
    Commission from the Tricycle for a full length adaptation
    Tricycle Theatre
    Thirteen
    Director Amy Hodge
    Short play examining politics in a penal colony in 1843, part of Women, Power and Politics season
    Tricycle Theatre
    Strandline
    Director Jim Culleton
    Starring
  • Fiona Bell
  • Cathy Belton
  • Samantha Heaney
  • Conor MacNeill
    •
    Play focused on four local women in a coastal village in Northern Ireland who gather together after the death of one of their husbands, leading to revelations
    Project Arts Centre, Dublin
    Bogwog
    Director David Esbjornson
    Starring
  • Patrick Boll
  • Molly Camp
  • Michelle Clunie
  • Matt Doyle
    •
    Play dealing with the beginning of the conflict in Northern Ireland
    International Playwrighting Convention, Washington DC
    Rubberfoot
    Director Orla O'Loughlin
    Short Play produced by Pentabus Theatre
    Edinburgh Festival
    Swing State
    Sketches
    Tinderbox Theatre Company
    Shaving the Pickle
    Short play as part of End of Lines
    Origin Theatre Company, 59E59 Theatre New York
    Abeyance
    Director Kirsten Sheridan
    Starring
  • Darren Healy
  • Michael Liebmann
  • Séan McGinley
  • Aisling O’Sullivan
    •
    Druid Theatre
    Pumpgirl
    Director Mike Bradwell
    Starring
  • James Doran
  • Orla Fitzgerald
  • Maggie Hayes
    •
    Acclaimed play set in Armagh and featuring three interwoven monologues
    Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre

    Television

    Writer 

    Seven Drunken Knights
    Winner of BBC Tony Doyle Award for best full length television feature
    In development
    Seacht: Series 4, Episode 6
    1 x 30'
    Director John Howlett
    Starring
  • Aoife Nic Ardghail
  • Neasa Ní Chuanaigh
  • Andrew Kavanagh
  • Eoghan McDermott
    •
    College drama series following the lives of seven teenagers
    Stirling Film and Television Limited for BBC NI

    Film

    Writer 

    Nothing but a Name
    Accepted for Puglia Film Experience
    In development
    Pumpgirl
    Producer Chris Martin
    Director Carol Moore
    Starring
  • Peter Ballance
  • Richard Dormer
  • Alexandra Ford
  • Geraldine Hughes
    •
    Adaptation of Abbie's acclaimed stage play
    BBC NI/NI Screen
    PG Films
    The Courtship Gift
    Producer Aisling Aylward
    Adaptation of the novel by Julie Parsons. Selected for Equinox Film Lab
    NI Screen
    Ulysses Productions
    In development
    Collusion
    Director Tom Hall
    Fast Focus
    Calipo Pictures
    In development

    Producer 

    Silent Grace
    Director Maeve Murphy
    Writer Maeve Murphy
    Starring
  • Patrick Bergin
  • Orla Brady
  • Cathleen Bradley
  • Conor Mullen
    •
    Co-producer on feature film screened in London, Belfast, Galway and Dublin
    Crimson Films Ltd

    Radio

    Writer 

    Rapture Frequency
    Director Heather Larmour
    Starring
  • Richard Dormer
  • Shaun Dooley
  • Esther Hall
  • Philip Jackson
    •
    Radio play about an analyst who hears an unexpected sound on the black box recording of an ill-fated transatlantic flight
    Live from the Palace
    2 x 15'
    Director Eoin O'Callaghan
    Starring
  • Sean Baker
  • Alex Tregear
    •
    Radio play featuring behind the scenes exclusives on much-loved fairytales

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 7
    Three Cotton Wool Balls for a Pound
    Director Heather Larmour
    Radio 4 afternoon play

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4
    In development