About me

Kayleigh Mai Hinsley is a playwright and dramaturg of mixed English, Irish and Sri Lankan descent working in Devon and London. Her work has been shortlisted for The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award 2024 and longlisted for The Peter Shaffer Postgraduate Award for Playwriting.

Kayleigh is currently a Paines Plough Mentored Writer in the Landmark Theatres North Devon cohort, as well as a long-term member of Beyond Face’s We Are Here To Write group. She has previously been part of NSDF Lab 2023/24, Roundhouse Works 2023/24 and Omnibus Theatre’s Omni-Wright programme 2024.

Her full CV can be found here.

Website: www.kayleighhinsley.com
Instagram: @kayleigh.hinsley

My Plays

First Gravedigger


Synopsis:

First Gravedigger is a political pressure cooker.

A young greengrocer named Shona is appointed as nuclear deputy in a seemingly rogue move by the Prime Minister. On the brink of nuclear war, an almost unthinkable power has been thrust into her hands and she must make an impossible decision.

The play was conceived and written while a Paines Plough Mentored Writer, with dramaturgical support from Chris White.


Number of Characters: 7


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 5


Length (in Pages): 45


Location: the Pindar bunker under Whitehall, London


Key Words: nuclear war, political drama, politics, pressure cooker, power, government


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

Fragile House


Synopsis:

Alma is a jazz singer. She just needs to get through this residency. Michael is the young saxophonist in her house band. He makes model houses out of matchsticks.

Thrown together weekly in a shared dressing room, their initial reluctance gives way to mutual curiosity — but can their growing connection last, or will it go up in flames?

Shortlisted for The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award 2024, Fragile House is a modern tragedy exploring the fragility of our relationships and the power of negative labels to become self-fulfilling prophecies.

Starring Tony Award winner Frances Ruffelle and National Youth Theatre member Adam Wadge, the play had a rehearsed reading at Omnibus Theatre in January 2025 as part of the Engine Room: Next Page season, but is yet to have a full production.

 

Development (selected)

- Masterclass Script Session at Theatre Royal Haymarket (upcoming March 2025)

- Rehearsed reading at Omnibus Theatre 2025

- Developed at NSDF 2024, selected scenes showcased at The Curve

- Shortlisted for The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award 2024

- Longlisted for BOLD Playwrights 2022

- Shortlisted (top 30 scripts) for Traverse Theatre’s Breakthrough Writers 2022


Number of Characters: 2


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 2


Length (in Pages): 49


Location: the dressing room of a jazz club


Key Words: jazz, two-hander, love, relationships, tragedy, fire


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award 2024 (shortlisted)


Reviews:


Production Photos/Posters/Playtext Cover:

Play Image

Moth Play


Synopsis:

A darkly comedic exploration of structural discrimination through the unlikely metaphor of moths, which aims to leave you feeling hopeful in the face of adversity and motivated to keep fighting.

Stuck in a forgotten light trap, one moth can do nothing but wait for the inevitable. Having grudgingly accepted their fate, the arrival of a second moth – who, upon learning of this impending doom, is intent on escape – irritates them intensely. Can they be convinced to get out? Is escape even possible?

The play has been staged by Beyond Face on a number of occasions.


Number of Characters: 3


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 2


Length (in Pages): 17


Location: a light trap for moths


Key Words: moths, absurdism, absurdist, environmental, structural discrimination, racism, global majority


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:


Production Photos/Posters/Playtext Cover:

Play Image

Wet Bulb


Synopsis:

Forced to migrate due to climate change, Zoya, Anu and Dev embark on journeys that will see them sacrifice almost everything.

Wet Bulb is a reverse-chronology play about displacement, forced migration, love and loss, and the endurance of the human spirit.

Zoya leaves behind her childhood friend Amil, who she would have married. Dev loses his brother Jai in a refugee camp to a preventable disease. Anu thinks that things will not affect her, and yet they do.

The opening scene was performed as a short play for two nights at the Drayton Arms Theatre in July 2024. The script was later longlisted for Tara Theatre’s NOVA Seed Commissions 2024/25.


Number of Characters: 6


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 20


Location: various locations across the Global South


Key Words: migration, displacement, global majority, global south, south asian, hope, love, loss, friendship, community


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:


Production Photos/Posters/Playtext Cover:

Play Image
Profile Photo
Kayleigh Mai Hinsley
@ kayleighhinsley

Location

London & North Devon

Contact