Elyse Dodgson

Dodgson moved to Britain in 1968, joining the Brighton Combination, a radical underground theatre company. After starting a family, she became a teacher and worked as head of drama at Vauxhall Manor, a girls’ comprehensive in South London. Here she developed a pioneering approach to developing plays by starting with personal testimony of historical events.{{cite journal |last1= Dodgson|first1= Elyse |date= 1984 |title= From Oral History to Drama |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40178816 |journal= Oral History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=47–53 |jstor= 40178816 }}

Several of these plays were produced at the Oval House Theatre, including the influential Motherland in 1982, about women in the Windrush generation, which was based on interviews with many of the pupil's mothers on their experience migrating from the West Indies to Britain.{{cite book |last1= Abram |first1= Nicola |date=2020 |title= Black British Women's Theatre: Intersectionality, Archives, Aesthetics |pages=39 |location= London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-3030514587}} Dodgson then used this last play as the basis of an influential textbook for Secondary Schools.{{cite book |last1= Dodgson |first1= Elyse |date=1984 |title= Motherland - West Indian Women to Britain in the 1950s |url= |location= London |publisher= Heinemann Educational |isbn=0435232304}}

Dodgson was hired in 1985 by Max Stafford-Clark to become Director of the Royal Court Young People’s Theatre.{{cite book |last1= Little |first1= Ruth |last2= McLaughlin |first2= Emily |date=2007 |title= The Royal Court Theatre Inside Out |url= |location= London |publisher= Oberon Books |pages = 135|isbn=978-1840027631}}{{cite thesis |last=Holden |first=N. O. |date=2018 |title=Building the Engine Room: A Study of the Royal Court Young Peoples' Theatre and its Development into the Young Writers' Programme |type=PhD |chapter=Chapter Three |chapter-url=http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/31439/ |access-date=3 December 2020}}

Here she created plays with young actors including Sophie Okonedo (Women and Sisters by Sandra Agard, A Rock in Water by Winsome Pinnock), as well as working with young writers such as Shaun Duggan and Jonathan Harvey, selecting and producing plays for the Royal Court Young Writers’ Festival,{{cite book |last1= Dodgson |first1= Elyse |date=1990 |title= First Lines – Young Writers at the Royal Court |url= |location= London |publisher= Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=0340522585}} which ran from 1986 to 1991.

Elyse Dodgson led the International Theatre department at the Royal Court Theatre from 1996 until her death in 2018. The seeds of her involvement with international theatre included the setting up of an International Summer School at the Court in 1989, and collaborations with the Deutsches Theater, Berlin starting in 1992.{{cite book |last1=Aston |first1=Elaine |last2= O'Thomas |first2= Mark|date=2015 |title= Royal Court International (Studies in International Performance) |url= |location= |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=187 |isbn=978-0230319486}} The international department, with Dodgson at the helm, was then created in 1996 by Stephen Daldry, then the Royal Court Artistic Director. Aston and O'Thomas 2015, p.14 The first long term writer's workshop programme with a partner country was initiated in 1996 when Dodgson, along with Stephen Jeffreys and Hettie MacDonald travelled to Uganda.Little and McLaughlin 2007, p. 327

Over the next twenty two years, Dodgson developed partnerships, held workshops, and produced translated readings and plays by playwrights in over 70 countries,{{cite web |url=https://genesisfoundation.org.uk/news/the-genesis-foundation-celebrates-20-years-of-international-work-with-the-royal-court-theatre/ |title=The Genesis Foundation celebrates 20 years of international work with the Royal Court Theatre |date=October 11, 2017 |access-date=January 1, 2021|url-status=}} from Europe, the Middle East, Cuba, Central and South America, Nigeria, Southern Africa, India and finally China.

New plays would be developed during International Workshops, often led by Dodgson. Aston and O'Thomas 2015, p.35

In addition, a central component for developing new international playwriting talent was the International Residency, which developed from the original fee-paying Summer School to an annual event where writers from different countries would come together in London and each develop a new play in collaboration with members of the Royal Court artistic team. Aston and O'Thomas 2015, p.41 The programme would include group sessions led by prominent British theatre makers, such as Harold Pinter, David Hare, Caryl Churchill, and Sarah Kane. {{cite web |url=http://theartsdesktest.com/node/3366/view |title =theartsdesk Q&A: Theatre Producer Elyse Dodgson |first= James |last= Woodall |date= March 26, 2011 |access-date= January 1, 2021}}

Many of the plays developed from these workshops and residencies would go on to appear at the Royal Court Theatre. {{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5014bf7a-15ff-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e |title= London's Royal Court writes the world on stage |first= Matt |last= Trueman |newspaper= Financial Times |date= May 13, 2016 |access-date= January 1, 2021}}

• Motherland, by Dodgson and company (Vauxhall Manor School){{cite book |editor-last= Donnell |editor-first= Alison |date=2001 |title= Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture |url= |location= New York |publisher= Routledge |isbn=0415169895 |pages=203}}
• A Rock In Water, by Winsome Pinnock{{cite web |url=https://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/rock-water |title= Rock In Water, A |work= National Theatre Black Plays Archive |access-date=January 14, 2021}}
• Fireface, by Marius von Mayenburg{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-278794.html |title = Everything but the kitchen sink |last=Taylor |first=Paul |work = The Independent |access-date= January 21, 2021}}
• Plasticine, by Vasily Sigarev{{cite web |url= https://thetheatretimes.com/natalya-vorozhbits-bad-roads-royal-court-russian-ukrainian-drama-uk/ |title= Natalya Vorozhbit's Bad Roads at the Royal Court: Russian and Ukrainian Drama in the UK |last=Rowson |first=James |date=November 25, 2017 |work=The Theatre Times |access-date=January 21, 2021}}
• Terrorism, by the Presnyakov Brothers
• Mr Kolpert by David Gieselmann
• My Name is Rachel Corrie (from the diaries of Rachel Corrie), edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine VinerLittle and McLaughlin 2007, p. 425
• Disconnect, By Anupama Chandrasekhar Aston and O'Thomas 2015, p.154
• The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/22/djinns-of-eidgah-review |title = The Djinns of Eidgah – review |last=Billington |first=Michael |work = The Guardian |date= October 22, 2013|access-date= February 1, 2021}}
• Feast by Yunior Garca Aguilera (Cuba), Rotimi Babatunde (Nigeria), Marcos Barbosa (Brazil), Tanya Barfield (US) and Gbolahan Obisesan (UK); directed by Rufus Norris{{cite news |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/spirit-of-modern-london-8423330.html |title = Spirit of modern London |last=Hoggard |first=Liz |work = The Evening Standard |date=September 18, 2012 |access-date= January 21, 2021}}
• Bad Roads by Natal'ya Vorozhbit
• Fireworks (Al'ab Nariya) by Dalia Taha{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/feb/20/fireworks-review-dalia-taha

|title = Fireworks review – child actors light up Gaza crisis |last =Billington |first =Michael |work = The Guardian |date = February 20, 2015 |access-date = March 29, 2021}}

• I See You by Mongiwekhaya; directed by Noma Dumezweni{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/mar/13/i-see-you-royal-court-observer-review |title = I See You review – disturbingly plausible |last =Kellaway |first =Kate |work = The Guardian |date = March 13, 2016 |access-date = March 29, 2021}}

File:Grave of Elyse Dodgson in Highgate Cemetery.jpg]]

Dodgson died on 23 October 2018 and was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.

In 2004, Dodgson received the Young Vic Award and she was made an MBE for services to international theatre and young writers overseas in 2010.

In 2019 The Royal Court Theatre announced a new biennial commission, in Dodgson's name, to support an international playwright to write a new play, with each award given to a playwright from a different region around the world.{{cite web |url=https://royalcourttheatre.com/royal-court-theatre-announces-dalia-taha-as-the-recipient-of-the-elyse-dodgson-commission-for-the-middle-east/ |title=Royal Court Theatre Announces Dalia Taha as the Recipient of the Elyse Dodgson Commission for the Middle East |author= |date= |website=royalcourttheatre.com |access-date=3 December 2020}}

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Category:English theatre managers and producers

Category:1945 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery