BLOODSPORT: After Helen of Troy

IVE IT BACK. GIVE IT BACK NOW. GIVE IT BACK OR I’LL TAKE IT BACK.

Artistic Director Lisa Spirling makes her directorial debut at Stratford East with this fierce new play by Ava Pickett (1536, Almeida Theatre, upcoming Baz Lurhmann film about Joan of Arc).

Years after she walked out on her family, Helen has returned home after a war fought in her name. Her husband celebrates, her childhood friend Cee does not. Over the course of this first fragile night of peace time, wounds reopen, loyalties fracture and the true cost of a woman’s choice to leave her life is made clear.

Ava Pickett’s debut play 1536 (Almeida Theatre) won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2024, received a special commendation from the George Devine Award, and won The Stage Debut Award (Best Writer). 1536 was also earned Ava nominations in The Standard Theatre Award’s Most Promising Playwright category in 2025, and the Critic Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright. Following a sold out run at the Almeida, 1536 will open on the West End in May 2026. It has also been picked up for a TV adaptation by the BBC.

In addition, Ava has adapted Jane Austen’s Emma for the Rose Theatre, Kingston’s Autumn 2025 season, and her adaptation of A.K. Blakemore’s The Manningtree Witches opened at the Mercury Theatre Colchester in February 2026.

Ava is co-writing a feature film based on the life of Joan of Arc, with Baz Luhrmann for Warner Brothers. Other screen credits include Brassic, The Buccaneers, The Great and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.

This production is generously supported by  Eilene Davidson Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust.