EL IS A WRITER, DIRECTOR, AND RESEARCHER.

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El Blackwood (b.1997) is a theatre director and writer creating new work that brings political realities into intimate focus.

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Her debut play, Tending -  the first verbatim play about NHS nurses - won a SIT-UP award and was nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. In 2025, Tending completed a critically acclaimed ACE-funded national tour, culminating in a three-week run at Riverside Studios. Tending is published by Salamander Street, and studied on King’s College London’s MA in Theatre, Performance & Critical Culture.

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Following Tending, El was commissioned by The Groundswell Project to write a series of monologues tracing a young man’s radicalisation into the far right; the work toured schools and is now being adapted into a short film. Her work has been featured on BBC Radio 4, Times Radio and STV.

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El has also guest lectured on the possibilities of verbatim theatre to transform social attitudes, including at Flagler College (USA), Kings College London, and the University of Oxford. 

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Trained on the John Burgess Playwriting Course and with the Orange Tree Theatre Young Company, she holds a BA in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford, and an MSc in International, Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics.

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El’s next verbatim play, Crossing, is currently in development. She is also developing an original screenplay exploring truth, memory and the politics of belief.