Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini
{{Short description|Nigerian-British playwright}}
{{infobox biography
| birth_place = London
| occupation = playwright, screenwriter
| alma_mater = {{ubl|Metropolitan University|City University}}
}}
Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini is a Nigerian-British playwright and screenwriter.{{cite web |last1=Mercy |first1=Yolande |title=Matilda Ibini: 'I switched to Creative Writing last minute, but I didn't tell my mum until I started the course.' |url=https://network.bfi.org.uk/news-and-features/industry-insights/matilda-ibini-%E2%80%98i-switched-creative-writing-last-minute-i-didn%E2%80%99t |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831075035/https://network.bfi.org.uk/news-and-features/industry-insights/matilda-ibini-%E2%80%98i-switched-creative-writing-last-minute-i-didn%E2%80%99t |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |website=network.bfi.org.uk |access-date=29 September 2021 |language=en |date=8 June 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Marks |first1=Heather |title=Interview with Matilda Ibini |url=https://wordsofcolour.co.uk/interview-with-matilda-ibini/ |access-date=29 September 2021 |work=Words of Colour |date=24 January 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Dalton |first1=Ben |title=Stars of Tomorrow 2020: Matilda Ibini (writer) |url=https://www.screendaily.com/features/stars-of-tomorrow-2020-matilda-ibini-writer/5153458.article |access-date=29 September 2021 |work=Screen |language=en}}
Education
Ibini has a BA in English literature and creative writing (2013) from London Metropolitan University,{{cite web |title=Creative Writing and English Literature Graduate lauded |url=https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/news/articles/matildas-muscovado/ |website=www.londonmet.ac.uk |publisher=London Metropolitan University |access-date=28 September 2021 |date=1 May 2014}} and an MA, with distinction, in playwriting and screen writing from City University, for which she was awarded a scholarship from BAFTA and Warner Bros.
Writing
Ibini's first play Muscovado was performed at Theatre503 in 2015; it is set in Barbados in 1808 and Time Out described it as "A small but satisfying drama about the British involvement in the slave trade".{{cite news |title=Muscovado |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/muscovado |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=Time Out London |date=10 March 2015 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Muscovado at Theatre503 Review |url=https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/5-star-muscovado-by-burntout-theatre/ |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=LondonTheatre1 |date=26 February 2015}}{{cite web |title=Muscovado |url=https://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/muscovado |website=www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk |publisher=Black Plays Archive |access-date=28 September 2021}} The play was one of three winners of the Audience Award of the Alfred Fagon Award for 2015.{{cite web |title=2015 Award |url=https://www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk/awards/2015-award/ |website=Alfred Fagon Award |access-date=28 September 2021}}
Little Miss Burden was performed at The Bunker in 2019, telling the story of three Nigerian sisters, one of whom uses a wheelchair. The Stage{{'s}} reviewer called it "a gem of a play".{{cite news |last1=Akbar |first1=Arifa |title=Little Miss Burden review – trauma, whimsy and 90s girl-bands |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/dec/09/little-miss-burden-review-bunker-london |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=9 December 2019 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Little Miss Burden review, The Bunker, London, London, 2019 |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/little-miss-burden-review-at-the-bunker-london--brilliantly-honest-new-play |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=The Stage |language=En}}
The Unexpected Expert was broadcast by BBC Four in May 2020 as part of its series Unprecedented of plays written during and about COVID-19 lockdown. It shows a disabled influencer being told by a council worker that her support will be cut during lockdown.{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Unprecedented, Series 1, Episode 4 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000jqt0 |website=BBC |access-date=28 September 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Al-Hassan |first1=Aliya |title=BWW Review: Unprecedented - Episode four, BBC iPlayer |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Review-UNPRECEDENTED-EPISODE-FOUR-BBC-iPlayer-20200603 |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=BroadwayWorld.com |date=3 June 2020 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Fisher |first1=Philip |title=Stream review: Unprecedented |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/unprecedented-19035 |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=British Theatre Guide}}
Her 2020 Caring, cowritten with Gabriel Bisset-Smith, is "A horror-comedy about a disabled woman who finally finds a good carer — only to discover the carer is a serial killer.", and was among the 14 scripts (from 246 entrants) which were selected for the 2020 Brit List of the year's best unproduced scripts.{{cite web |title=The Brit List: Film and TV 2020 |url=https://brit-list.co.uk/past-lists/the-brit-list-film-and-tv-2020/ |website=The Brit List |access-date=29 September 2021}} In 2020 it was reported that shooting was planned for summer 2021.
Her play Sleepova, produced at the Bush Theatre, won her the 2023 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright, jointly with Marcelo Dos Santos,{{cite web |last1=Ramachandran |first1=Naman |title=Andrew Scott, David Tennant, Sophie Okonedo Win Acting Prizes at U.K. Critics' Circle Theatre Awards |url=https://variety.com/2024/theater/global/uk-critics-circle-theatre-awards-winners-andrew-scott-david-tennant-1235950935/ |website=Variety |access-date=26 March 2024 |date=25 March 2024}} and was nominated in the 2024 Laurence Olivier Awards for "Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre".{{cite web |title=Olivier Awards 2024 with Mastercard nominations announced |url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/olivier-awards-2024-with-mastercard-nominees-announced/ |website=Official London Theatre |access-date=26 March 2024 |date=12 March 2024}}
Personal life
Ibini describes herself as bionic and Queer, explaining: "I adopted the term 'bionic' when I became a full-time wheelchair user and had metal implanted into my leg after a traumatic fracture, even though the term encompasses my experiences from birth, that I have always needed some form of technology, equipment, or adaptation to live."{{cite web |last1= |first1= |title=About |url=https://matildaibini.com/about |website=Matilda Ibini |access-date=28 September 2021}} She has Limb–girdle muscular dystrophy.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|https://matildaibini.com/}}
{{Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibini, Matilda}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:British people of Nigerian descent
Category:British dramatists and playwrights
Category:British women dramatists and playwrights
Category:Alumni of London Metropolitan University
Category:Alumni of City, University of London
Category:British wheelchair users