Romola Garai Cast In Title Role Of Ella Hickson's THE WRITER at Almeida Theatre

"I want awe. I feel like I need blood. All the time. And anything less than that makes me feel desperate. It makes me feel like I want to die."

She wants to change the shape of the world. But a new way of thinking needs a new story. How can she make herself heard?

Ella Hickson returns to the Almeida following the success of Oil in 2016 with the world premiere of The Writer, directed by Blanche McIntyre.

Tickets for The Writer, alongside tickets for Machinal and Dance Nation, are now on sale to general public.

Romola Garai plays the Writer. Her previous theatre credits include Queen Anne at the Theatre Royal Haymarket; Measure for Measure at the Young Vic; Indian Ink at Roundabout Theatre (New York); The Village Bike at the Royal Court; Three Sisters at the Lyric Hammersmith; King Lear and The Seagull for the RSC and Calico at the Duke of York's Theatre. Her television work includes The Miniaturist; Born to Kill; Churchill's Secret; Legacy; The Hour; Crimson Petal and the White; Emma; Mary Bryant; Daniel Deronda; Perfect; Attachments and The Last of the Blonde Bombshells. For film, her credits include Suffragette; Dominion; The Last Days on Mars; Having You; Junkhearts; One Day; Glorious 39; The Other Man; Atonement; Angel; Amazing Grace; Renaissance; Scoop; As You Like It; Inside I'm Dancing; Vanity Fair; Havana Nights; Nicholas Nickleby and I Capture the Castle.

Ella Hickson's Oil was produced by the Almeida Theatre in 2016 (it won the Catherine Johnson Award for Best Play in 2013). Her other plays include Merlin, Wendy and Peter Pan, Boys, The Authorised Kate Bane, Gift (part of Headlong's Decade), Precious Little Talent and Hot Mess.

Blanche McIntyre directs. Her theatre credits include The Norman Conquests at Chichester Festival Theatre; Titus Andronicus and The Two Noble Kinsmen for the RSC; Noises Off at the Nottingham Playhouse; Welcome Home, Captain Fox! at The Donmar Warehouse; The Oresteia at HOME, Manchester; As You Like It and The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare's Globe; Arcadia for English Touring Theatre and Ambassador Theatre Group; Accolade at St James' Theatre and also at the Finborough Theatre; Tonight at 8:30 and The Nutcracker at Nuffield Southampton Theatres; Ciphers for Out of Joint, Bush Theatre and Exeter Northcott; The Birthday Party at the Manchester Royal Exchange and The Seagull for Headlong Theatre, Nuffield Southampton Theatres and Derby Theatre (winner of Best Director at 2013 UK Theatre Awards) and Foxfinder at the Finborough Theatre. McIntyre was the winner of the 2011 Critics' Circle Most Promising Newcomer Award. She will direct The Winter's Tale at Shakespeare's Globe later this year.