Cuckoo

We've got our little routines. She'll text me if she's hungry or wants anything. Or I'll say, 'Fancy an orange squash?' And she'll send me a thumbs up. Doreen and her two grown up daughters sit at the table eating fish and chips, distracted by their phones. Upstairs, seventeen-year-old Megyn has locked herself in her grandmother's bedroom and is refusing to come out. And no one is entirely sure why. Michael Wynne's dark comedy questions the safety of home and the different ways we cope in an increasingly uncertain world. Cuckoo opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in July 2023.

Michael Wynne was born and brought up in Birkenhead. His first play, The Knocky (Meyer-Whitworth Award - Best New Playwright and Best New Writer Nomination - Writers' Guild), was produced by the Royal Court. His other credits for the Royal Court include Who Cares, The Priory (Olivier Award - Best New Comedy), The People Are Friendly, The Red Flag, Friday Night Sex (with Alecky Blythe) and I'm Not Here - The Living Newspaper. Wynne's work also includes the first new play at the rebuilt Liverpool Everyman, Hope Place, and Canvas (Minerva Theatre, Chichester), Sell Out (Best Off West End - Time Out Theatre Awards) and Dirty Wonderland (both Frantic Assembly), Tits/Teeth (Soho Theatre), The Boy Who Left Home (Actors Touring Company), We Are Here (La Mama, New York) and The Star (Liverpool Playhouse). He has also written extensively for screen, including My Summer of Love (BAFTA - Best British Film, Evening Standard Film Awards; Best Screenplay, the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival; joint winner of the Directors' Guild Award for Best British Film), Lapland and Being Eileen for the BBC.

Auteur

Michael Wynne was born and brought up in Birkenhead. His first play, The Knocky (Royal Court) was awarded the Meyer Whitworth Award for Best New Play, and he was nominated for Best New Writer by the Writers Guild. Other plays include The People Are Friendly (Royal Court); The Priory (Royal Court), which won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy; Sell Out (Frantic Assembly), which won Time Out Best Off West End Award; The Boy Who Left Home (Actor Touring Company); Dirty Wonderland (Frantic Assembly); Tits /Teeth (Soho Theatre/NYT) and Canvas (Chichester Festival Theatre). He co-wrote My Summer of Love (BBC Films), which won the BAFTA for Best British Film and Evening Standard Film Award for Best Screenplay.