ALISTAIR MCDOWALL ‘uses language with virtuosity. He folds it, unfolds it, dirties it, mishandles it, and in doing so, he celebrates it...It is as a poet that he uses writing to honour its promises: to excite the imagination, to stimulate play, to provoke staging and to elevate the theatre.’ Le Monde

‘McDowall’s plays are portals to the extraordinary.’ Guardian

X: ‘McDowall masterfully plants ideas that grow until they explode into extraordinary shapes. Filthy humour breaks down into a cracked algorithm of letters and loss … a play that will gnaw away at you.’
The Stage

The Glow: ‘A mind-bending, ambitious play, which attempts impossible things, demonstrating the power of theatre to bridge the gap between imagination and reality.’
Exeunt

all of it: ‘Genius...an epic of inner life...McDowall brilliantly captures how febrile consciousness scribbles around our spoken half-truths.’
Guardian

Northleigh, 1940: ‘Quietly devastating...[McDowall] is extraordinary at channelling his disturbing, poetic vision of the characters’ hidden worlds.’
The Times

Zero for the Young Dudes! A play for youth groups commissioned by the National Theatre and performed around the country in 2017.

Alistair McDowall grew up in the North East of England. Plays include: The Glow (Royal Court Theatre 2022); all of it (Royal Court Theatre 2020); Zero for the Young Dudes! (National Theatre Connections 2017); X (Royal Court Theatre 2016); Pomona (RWCMD/Gate 2014; Orange Tree Theatre/Royal Exchange/National Theatre 2014/5); Talk Show (Royal Court Theatre 2013); Brilliant Adventures (Royal Court Young Writers’ Festival 2012; Royal Exchange, Manchester and Live Theatre, Newcastle 2013) and Captain Amazing (Live Theatre, Newcastle and Edinburgh Fringe 2013; UK tour 2014). He is a MacDowell fellow, and a recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission. His work has been translated and produced internationally.