Janys Chambers
Writing
People often ask me - which do I like best? Writing? Directing? Performing? Teaching? Working as a dramaturg? And the truth is I love all these things. But when I sit down to write a new script on my own in my room at home - it does always feel like a very special moment
Originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and later re-commissioned and produced by York Theatre Royal, this stage version of My Family And Other Animals has just been published by Nick Hern Books in 2022, and there are already forthcoming productions in the UK and Europe
See below for more about this production of North and South for Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Nominations and Awards for Writing
Runner-up, Cheshire Literature Prize 2020 (announced 2021)
Nominated Best Production for Children, Manchester Theatre Awards (The Secret Garden, Octagon Theatre)
Winner Welsh BAFTA Best Series (Shared award, co-writer, Belonging, BBC TV Wales)
Nominated BAFTA Best New Writer to Television
Nominated Best Episode in a Soap, British Soap Awards (Emmerdale, Yorkshire TV)
Nominated Best Radio Play for Children, Writers’ Guild Awards
Runner-up, Greenwich International Poetry Competition
Winner John Pudney Prize for Poetry
(Click on any blue title below to see a poster and sometimes rehearsal or production photos of the project)
Theatre Writing (see below for Television and Radio)
For Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Peter Pan and Wendy adapted from J.M. Barrie, postponed due to Covid-19 till December 2022
★★★★'Vivid, magical fun' The Stage
★★★★ 'This Christmas show more than meets expectations – it is simply wonderful. The adaptation by Janys Chambers is extremely clever: keeping the central story of Peter Pan and Wendy and stripping out other side-plots makes for a pacy two hours that keeps every child captivated throughout' Musicaltheatrereview (for full review see link below)
https://musicaltheatrereview.com/peter-pan-and-wendy-pitlochry-festival-theatre
★★★★ 'Chambers grasps the magic of Neverland' The Reviews Hub
★★★★ 'An imaginative adaptation by Janys Chambers' Broadway World
★★★★ 'A true tonic for our times' The Courier
★★★★ 'A show that's never less than charming' What's On Stage
★★★★ 'You’ll never really grow up so long as you go to Christmas shows like this' Corr Blimey
★★★★ 'Bringing the magic of Barrie’s story to life in this exciting new adaptation, this festive offering is a real gift' Braw Theatre
For TWO WOMEN Productions
The Wasteground Circus cross-form theatre-circus piece, a TWO WOMEN production, postponed due to Covid-19 till July 2022
'It is a highly unusual mix of drama and circus, with great circus technique and also characters that we care about and feel for. The piece is really really easy to engage with because it has both comedy and simplicity. At the same time it takes the audience to a place where they have to think about the nature of relationships, how the future might be, and what a poorer world it would be without circus and art' (Audience member - see also Directing Page)
For Pitlochry Festival Theatre
North and South adapted from Elizabeth Gaskell
★★★★ The Guardian
★★★★ The Scotsman
‘An electrifying adaptation of the Gaskell novel’ The Guardian (for full review see link:)
For Octagon Theatre Bolton
Jane Eyre adapted from Charlotte Brontë
★★★★ Morning Star/★★★★ Opening Night
'An innovative and fresh feel, allowing audiences to see Brontë’s characters perhaps differently than in previous incarnations... an enormously engaging and entertaining production....engaging, relevant and inspiring theatre' Opening Night
'Her version condenses the drama, deception and romance of the story in two hours of cleverly constructed dialogue' Manchester Salon
‘The year kicked off with Jane Eyre at Bolton Octagon, an incredibly uplifting take on Brontë’s classic’ Best of the Year, The Morning Star
‘A light and lucid adaptation directed by Elizabeth Newman. Gripping, good-hearted and full of gothic terror’ The Guardian
Elizabeth Newman and Janys Chambers in rehearsals for Jane Eyre adapted by Janys Chambers for the Octagon Theatre
The Secret Garden adapted from F. Hodgson Burnett
★★★★★ What's Good to Do
'My expectations were high – would it be comparable to my childhood memories of such a classic novel? Well, I wasn’t disappointed… what a fabulous community summer production!' What's Good to Do
Nominated Best Production for Children, Manchester Theatre Awards
The Railway Children adapted from E. Nesbit
For York Theatre Royal
My Family And Other Animals (see below for the poster of the original production)
Originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and later re-commissioned and produced by York Theatre Royal, and now available in print - published by Nick Hern Books 2022 (see above)
★★★★ ‘Durrell gets the revival he deserves. It fairly fizzes with life.’ The Mail
★★★★ ‘Gerald Durrell’s wonderfully rich tale of an upper-class English family transplanted to sun-dappled Corfu in the 1930’s has sold five million copies, but the episodic nature of the story has put off many adapters. How to present the ‘other animals,’ of which there are many, is another challenge. Janys Chambers, the writer, has dealt with these niggles consummately’ The Times
★★★★ ‘The play’s triumph is the way it captures the exuberance of youth’ The Stage Online
★★★★ ‘It is simply a delight’ The Stage
For the New Vic
Pat and Margaret adapted from Victoria Wood
For CADW (Ancient Monuments in Wales)/Trefor Lloyd Roberts
Shakespeare’s Kitchen (site-specific to Plas Mawr, Conwy)
‘The production at Plas Mawr was fabulous’ Adele Thackray, Lifelong Learning Manager CADW
For National Rural Touring and the Edinburgh Festival
The Harmonettes Go Into Orbit (musical with 3-girl acapella singing group, 5 UK tours and the Edinburgh Festival)
'The show is a treat. The script is inspired. I’d rush to see if there are any tickets left’ Chester Chronicle
Read the amazing story here of an audience member who loved the show so much he gave us £10k to take it to the Edinburgh Festival:
★★★★ Fringe Review ★★★★★ The Big Issue
Featured in ‘Best of the Festival’ Mail on Sunday
Short promo film of the final song in the show:
For National Rural Touring
Dorothy’s War (the only woman to fight in the trenches in WW1, 3 UK tours, subsequently commissioned by BBC Radio 3)
Cross Your Heart (also subject of a documentary film)
For Flintshire Arts /Arts Council Wales
‘Every school in Wales should see this play’ Gwennan Mair, Director Community Engagement, Theatr Clwyd
Plays for 100 Children
(13 plays over 9 years in primary-schools, funded by Arts Council Wales/Flintshire Arts, many performed at Theatr Clwyd, reaching over 2000 children) Examples include:
The Lost Kingdom (also directed)
The Snow Spider (also directed)
‘I was mesmerised by the performance' Jenny Nimmo, author of The Snow Spider on which one of the plays was based
For Women’s Theatre Group (now Sphinx)
Co-wrote; published in Mythic Women/Real Women Edited by L. Goodman, by Faber and Faber; also published in Adaptations of Shakespeare, Edited by Fischlin and Fortier, by Routledge
★★★★ The Times/ ★★★★ City Limits/ ★★★★ The Observer
‘Brilliant Imaginative theatre’ City Limits
'A rich, imaginative, probing and adventurous play' The Times
For Theatre In The Quarter
Handbag - The Musical! (also directed)
‘Fantastic show last night. Brilliantly written and directed by Janys Chambers and featuring the spectacular all-woman choir Handbag of Harmonies. Funny, very moving (I cried buckets) and uplifting. I’d be telling anyone in the NW to hunt it out and get a ticket but the rest of the tour is completely sold out’ Martin Jameson blog
For BCHUB (the NHS in Wales)
The D Word (about dementia) 2 tours of North Wales (also directed)
'It should be accessible to people of all ages, Wales and beyond’ Karen Lloyd Jones at Glyndwr University
'An outstanding interpretation of the impact of dementia. The decline of the individual suffering from it and the heart-wrenching impact on the carer's life are portrayed with skill, sensitivity and poignancy. An incredibly moving performance.’ Cheryl Hesketh, Library Services
An original anthem for the massed choirs of Ellesmere Port including a signing choir, funded by the BBC
For Yorkshire Women Theatre
A Weight Off My Mind (a dance-theatre piece about issues with food; regional tour)
'Touring theatre at its best' Northern Star
For New Perspectives
The Confidential War Diaries of Hilda Mustard (regional tour)
For Theatre Centre
Mirror Mirror (national schools’ tour)
Television Writing
Nominated BAFTA Best New Writer to Television
For BBC TV
Belonging (two series)
Winner Welsh BAFTA Best Series (shared award co-writer)
For ITV Yorkshire
Emmerdale (over 100 Episodes)
Nominated Best Episode in a Soap, British Soap Awards
For BBC TV
Holby City
For Cosgrove Hall Films / CITV
Engie Benjy (two series)
For Granada TV
Children’s Ward
Radio Writing
For BBC Radio 3
Sapper Dorothy (short play for The Verb)
For BBC Radio 4
Miss Thingummybob (original play for the series The Sirens of Fleet Street)
The Single Heart (adapted from Storm Jameson as a Classic Serial)
My Family And Other Animals (adapted from Gerald Durrell as a Classic Serial)
Subsequently commissioned as a stage play by York Theatre Royal, see above
The Village (original play)
Carol by Patricia Highsmith
The Black Horn by Clare Cooper
The Last Girl by Penelope Evans
Cheri by Colette - all abridgements
For BBC Schools' Radio
The Beehive (original series)
Nominated Best Radio Play for Children, Writers’ Guild Awards
The Girl In The Garden (original series)
Two's Company (original series)
For BBC Radio 5
Bill’s New Frock (adapted from Anne Fine)
The Cricket In Times Square by George Seldon (abridgement)
The Angel Of Nitshill Road (adapted from Anne Fine)
'A drama with a twist that could be enjoyed by adults as well as its target audience' The Stage
Poetry and Children's Stories
For Cheshire Literature Prize 2020
Runner-up, Children's Literature Category for short story, Lockdown 2041
Janys with Daljit Nagra the poet at the Cheshire Literature Prize 2020 Awards evening
For Loggerheads Park
Little Dipper And The Star (commissioned by the Park, now being illustrated as a picture-book)
Greenwich International Poetry Competition
Runner-up
John Pudney Prize
Winner
For Greenwich Winners; Orbis; Writing Women
Poems published
BBC Radio Leicester
Short stories for The Battery Powered Steam Radio Show
Below, by the way, is Jane Austen’s writing desk, not mine. I’m fascinated by how she wrote such big books… balancing huge towering manuscript, quill, ink and genius... on such a tiny table.
Anyone like to commission me to adapt a Jane Austen?
