Writing

During her time on the MA Acting course at Drama Centre London, Gabrielle worked in tandem with those on the Writing and Directing sister pathways of the course in order to develop new pieces of writing and devised productions for both stage and screen. She also worked independently as a writer as part of the school's renowned Movement Psychology programme.

Gabrielle made her professional writing debut in April 2016, writing three plays for the Underexposed Theatre festival at The Old Red Lion Theatre in London's Islington. These were: Bonus of Contention, The Artistically Protected Right To Over-React and A Meaningful (Albeit Brief) Encounter.

Since then, she has two plays on at the Southwark Playhouse: After as part of The Millenials and The Petal and The Orchid as part of Little Pieces of Gold with both being extremely well received by audiences and critics.

Following on from the success of the staging at The Southwark in February, The Petal and The Orchid was revived at the second Underexposed Theatre festival, which took place at The Old Red Lion Theatre in April 2018 and latterly at The Southwark Playhouse in July of that year.

Subsequently, The Petal and The Orchid was selected to be part of a new anthology of plays entitled Short Plays With Great Roles for Women, edited by Suzette Coon (who had produced the play for Little Pieces of Gold) and published by Routledge. The publication was released in October 2019.

Reviews

'The Petal and The Orchid pulls us in to the moral heart of the stage...boxing us in to an impossibly uncomfortable choice from which...there are no easy answers.'

Pete Lawler reviewing The Petal and The Orchid for The American

'Deftly constructed...this intelligent play brutally cut to the bone...one of the most impactful shows of the evening.'

Daniel Perks reviewing The Petal and The Orchid for Miro Magazine

‘Gabrielle Curtis is as impressive as ever, penning and starring in three of the plays of the evening, all of which were delightful, one of which, Bonus of Contention, A Sexual Battle of Wills, was pure magic. Said battle pits Kara and Seb, having got together for a ‘closure chat’, against each other with Kara attempting to seduce her ex and Seb utilising all the force of his willpower and quite a lot of wit to resist the notoriously male inclination to jump at sex whenever it is presented. The air sizzles electrically with sexual tension in this confrontation and Curtis and her partner in this piece, Connor Mills, deliver scalpel sharp dialogue with contrapuntally perfect comic timing, bringing the intense chemistry between the two characters very quickly to a rolling riveting boil. Wonderful.’

Pete Lawler for The American Londoner

‘This hilarious play was perfect to conclude the evening’

Carolyn Kopplin for West End Wilma

‘The evening is not short of compelling subject matter….Bonus of Contention, for example, is a very well observed discussion between two people who have separated.’

Susan Elkin for Sardines Magazine