About

Juliet Gilkes Romero

News & Current Affairs

Juliet Gilkes Romero is an award winning writer for stage and screen. She was Writer in Residence at the National Theatre attached to the New Work Department for 2022/2023 and is currently under commission for the National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

She is the recipient of the 2020 Alfred Fagon Award for Best New Play for The Whip, the Roland Rees Bursary 2019 (named in honour of the co-founder of the Alfred Fagon Award) and the BBC World Service Alexander Onassis Research Bursary.

Juliet has worked as a BBC foreign affairs reporter and producer for several years at BBC World Service Radio and BBC World TV. She has also worked as a producer and reporter for Sky News International. 

“I began my writing career as a journalist. I am endlessly curious and fought hard for assignments to countries including Haiti, Cuba, and Ethiopia. I remember Editors wanting to send me to cover the Notting Hill carnival. Now don’t get me wrong, I love carnival, my mother is from Trinidad. But I fought hard to go to Northern Ireland instead. As a journalist and playwright I have always resisted being stereotyped. And I always encourage new writers to get out of their comfort zones, explore untold histories and never let anyone stuff you into a box of their choosing with the lid firmly shut.”

A stunning selection of portraits focusing on ‘Suffolk Creatives’ is unveiled to the public today as part of the highly successful ‘An Eye For Life: Photography by John Ferguson’ exhibition in the Wolsey Art Gallery at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich.

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Juliet Gilkes Romero

A “Bruntwood Prize” Call to Arms by Juliet Gilkes Romero

“I like plays with political bite. Katori Hall’s fearless examination of the Rwandan genocide ‘Our Lady of Kibeho’ is outstanding. There’s Danai Gurira’s electrifying ‘The Convert’ about the collision of race, religion, and colonialism in what was Rhodesia in 1896. Also, I love August Wilson for his cycle of ten plays that chronicle the twentieth century African American experience.  Who is not inspired by his vision and ambition?”

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In a recent interview, Juliet spoke with the Chamber’s C140 project team about her career and role on the board of trustees for HighTide theatre.

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Juliet Gilkes Romero

Juliet Gilkes Romero at Frida Kahlo House Mexico City

What are the themes of your play?

The Whip is a drama about the untold cost of freedom and the fight for political solidarity, which for the main protagonists is both dangerous and revolutionary.  Betrayal, the inequity of slavery in the colonies and also in England’s fearsome cotton mills collide as major themes.

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Playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero blogs about starting rehearsals for her new play, The Whip.

Today is the first day of rehearsals for The Whip. It’s also the UN International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. This is auspicious. But it wasn’t planned, it just happened this way, and now I can’t help but feel as if historic forces from 1833 are gathering around this creative team and this conjuring of a powerful, compelling and turbulent past.

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Selected Projects