Jessica is an Olivier award winning writer and director. She trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and Exeter University.
As playwright, Jessica’s first play Blue Stockings (Shakespeare’s Globe) won her an Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright nomination and is now on the GCSE drama syllabus. Nell Gwynn transferred from the Globe to the West End starring Gemma Arterton, and won the Olivier for Best New Comedy. Jessica is currently writing the screenplay for Working Title, alongside the Horrible Histories movie and an original feature, Summerland, also starring Arterton, which will be Jessica’s directorial debut, supported by the BFI. In 2012 she won a BAFTA JJ Screenwriting Bursary. She’s also writing features for Fox Searchlight and Studio Canal and a TV adaptation of her first play Blue Stockings for Monumental Television.
Jessica founded Red Handed Theatre Company in 2005, and, as Artistic Director, won the Peter Brook Empty Space Award for The Belle’s Stratagem, alongside an Evening Standard Best Director nomination in the Evening Standard Awards. As director, work includes Fallen Angels (Salisbury Playhouse), Bedlam (Shakespeare's Globe), Winter (Theatre Newfoundland, Canada) and Sleuth, Sense and Sensibility and Far from the Madding Crowd (Watermill Theatre) and numerous productions at the Arcola, the Park and Southwark Playhouse.
Jessica is also an Associate Artist with International NGO Youth Bridge Global, who use theatre as a development tool in war torn countries. As such she’s directed community productions of Comedy of Errors, The Tempest and Much Ado about Nothing in the Balkans and the Marshall Islands (North Pacific).
She is author of a best-selling series of drama games books, published by Nick Hern.
Jess is involved in Times Up UK and the 50:50 campaign, actively campaigning for greater equality across theatre and film.
Projects
- Jessica Swale’s historical comedy aims to restore Nell Gwynn’s luster - The Washington PostIf 17th-century Londoner Nell Gwynn is remembered today, it’s usually for the wrong reasons — as an orange seller who became mistress to England’s King Charles II. By rights, says British playwright Jessica Swale, Gwynn should be recalled as a trailblazing actress who dazzled her contemporaries with her smarts and bon mots. Without money or education, Gwynn “became one of the most celebrated people in the country, through her wit and her intelligence and her spark,” Swale says, even though “few
- Comedy Short: Leading Lady Parts - BBCThis comedy short, written and directed by Jessica Swale, takes a sneak peek backstage as the cream of British acting talent step forward to audition for that dream role. They are primed to take on the role of a lifetime, that complex woman, the strong woman, a woman for today. A lady part who is more than just... lady parts. The eclectic, award-winning cast includes Gemma Arterton, Gemma Chan, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones, Katie Leung, Stacy Martin, Wunmi Mosaku
Projects credited in
- This International Women’s Day 2019, meet 100 trailblazers redefining the creative industryDiscover our 2020 list here This International Women’s Day, we’ve launched our latest ‘10x10’ – asking 10 influential industry icons to each nominate 10 trailblazing women and non-binary people who they believe are redefining the creator landscape. The result? An incredible list of 100 trailblazers inspiring change. Our list will be accompanied by a takeover on The Dots – look out for brilliant profiles and projects on the platform as we aim to inspire, as important as ever when considering ‘88165
Skills
- Playwriting
- Screenwriting
- Script Writer
- Theatre Directing