Ava Pickett

The show that comes most to the front of my mind is Bloodsport at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

The play is written by Ava Pickett, who everyone is talking about as a young rising star, quite rightly, following her breakout play 1536, which had acclaimed runs at the Almeida and then in the West End earlier this year.

Bloodsport was actually written a few years ago, before 1536, but is having a proper production here at Stratford East, directed by the new artistic director there, Lisa Sperling, and with a very good cast, including Michelle Dockery, Laura Aikman.

So this is an event of some note, I think.

The location is important, I think, because the play sets off all sorts of reverberations with contemporary social issues and political parallels.

What did you think of Bloodsport, Jody?

Well, first of all, I love Ava Pickett's writing.

Second of all, I love a Greek myth retold, especially one that centers on the stories of the women having been so disappointed that the Odyssey this summer did not tell enough of the female story.

But just to run through some of the winners from last Sunday, we need the klaxon out again, Nick.

Ava Pickett has won again.

She won for Best Creative West End Debut for 1536.

And I think we can all agree.

It was great to see people in the flesh and even better, meet them in the pub after.

This week, we're reviewing Ava Pickett's Bloodsport after Helen of Troy at Theatre Royal Stratford East and Clifford Odette's Golden Boy at the Almeida.

For interviews, we've got Sierra Boggess on the 40th anniversary of Phantom of the Opera, while Greg Hicks, the star of Master Builder at the Arcola, answers our five questions.

First of all, though, as you'll know if you heard our announcement earlier this week, we've got an amazing offer for you to bring you even more theatre because there is no such thing as too much.

But what was his last London stage appearance at the Criterion in 2006?

Was it A, Otherwise Engaged by Simon Gray, B, Blackbird by David Harrower, or C, The Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard?

Right, our first review means we get to sound the obligatory Ava Pickett klaxon early this season.

We couldn't stop talking about her smash hit 1536 all of last season, and Nancy and I both also loved her shrewd updating of Emma at the Rose.

Oh, well, just because it's fresh in my head, because I saw it a couple of nights ago.

I think one of the most exciting playwrights of the moment is Ava Pickett, who is still very young.

Her play 1536 was a huge hit at the Almeida and then in the West End recently.

I've just seen her new play, which actually I think she wrote before 1536, which is called Bloodsport.

And she has a real talent for dialogue and structure.

It was quite commanding for a young playwright.

So a great recommendation, Bloodsport by Ava Pickett.

Thank you so much, Thomas.

I mean, it's an early...

This is our obligatory Ava Pickett-Klaxon reference, which we have to do every season.

We loved her 1536.

This is an earlier play.

This is Blood Sport: After Helen of Troy at Stratford East.

Written by rising star playwright Ava Pickett, who has recently been hugely celebrated for her work 1536, which played at the Almeida Theatre and then transferred to a sold-out run at the Ambassadors and was scorchingly good.

You can check out my full review of that production to find out a little bit more about why Blood Sport was actually written first, and this is something that I want to clarify.

And Lisa Sperling mentioned this when I spoke to her about the season announcement for this inaugural season of hers as the new artistic director at Stratford East.

Previously, she was at Theatre 503, a venue which deals with new playwriting, and it was in her capacity there that she first encountered this play, Blood Sport: After Helen of Troy, which I believe was the debut play from Ava Pickett, in as much as it was the first one that she wrote, though it wasn't the first to be staged.

Lisa noted that it was somewhat too ambitious and of too great a scale for a venue like Theatre 503, but she held onto it, and when she arrived at Stratford East, she had the opportunity to program it, something that she was incredibly excited to do.

And you can understand why, because it is almost startling how timely the thing is, given that it was written a few years ago.

And making this choice utterly for herself, walks out on her life, leaves town, leaving her husband and child behind in favor of a new life with a man who is not English.