Tatty Hennessy

Tatty is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg, screenwriter and director. 

In 2019, her award-winning play A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW transferred from the Arcola Theatre to the Trafalgar Studios where it received 4 Offie nominations including Best New Play and Most Promising New Playwright. Tatty has a passion and skill for writing for young audiences - in 2024 she was shortlisted for Polka Theatre's inaugural Playwriting Award with her unproduced play THE ELEPHANT. She has worked extensively with the National Youth Theatre, in 2018 writing F* OFF directed by Paul Roseby, exploring the first digitally native generation (Edinburgh Fringe 2019) and later adapting Orwell's ANIMAL FARM which premiered in 2021. Her adaptation will return to stages in spring 2025 in a new production co-produced by Leeds Playhouse and Stratford East in association with Nottingham Playhouse, directed by Amy Leach. In 2022 she adapted Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel THE SLEEPING SWORD for the Watermill Theatre in a production that had creative-access at its heart and previously she adapted THE SNOW QUEEN for Theatre N16 which later played at Brighton Open Air Theatre in 2020. In 2024 Tatty wrote the libretto for WELLIES an immersive opera for ages 3-7 and audiences with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities with English Touring Opera. 

In 2022 North Carolina’s Burning Coal Theatre commissioned her to write A GREAT BIG WOOLLY MAMMOTH THAWING FROM THE ICE which premiered in October 2022. Tatty was awarded a commission under the WGGB’s New Play Commission Scheme in 2022 under which she’s writing her latest play ATTRITION for producer Rebecca Gwyther.

For screen, Tatty completed the prestigious Channel 4 Screenwriting Course and is working on various adaptations and commissions with independent producers. Her play SOMETHING AWFUL, inspired by the real true crime story of the Slenderman, premiered at the Vault Festival in early 2020 and Company Pictures quickly acquired the rights in a TV adaptation of the play. Tatty is also developing feature ideas alongside further exciting theatre and TV developments.