Debbie Isitt; born 7 February 1966 in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, UK; is a comic

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 writer, film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and performer.

Isitt set up the theatre company 'Snarling Beasties' in the 1980s. Her most successful play to date is the black comedy "The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband." Her plays have won several awards including 'The Independent theatre award' in 1989 and 'Time Out' theatre award in 1991 as well as Perrier Pick of the fringe for three consecutive years at the Edinburgh Festival

Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

.

Isitt's work has been produced at the Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse

Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...

, the Royal Court

Royal Court Theatre

The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

 and in the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

. Her plays have toured the world and been translated into many languages.

Isitt has performed in several radio comedy shows such as Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation is a BBC Radio 4 series of comedy lectures, hosted by Jeremy Hardy. This has been running since the mid 1993...

and The Mark Steel Lectures

The Mark Steel Lectures

The Mark Steel Lectures are a series of radio and television programmes. Written and delivered by Mark Steel, each scripted lecture presents persuasive, yet witty, arguments for the importance of a historical figure....

.

Isitt's teleplay for Channel 4 "The Illustrated Mum

The Illustrated Mum

The Illustrated Mum is an acclaimed children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson, with drawings by Nick Sharratt. The title is a reference to The Illustrated Man, a 1951 novel by Ray Bradbury....

" an adaptation of the children's novel by Jacqueline Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson

Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness...

, earned Isitt a Bafta for best adapted screenplay in 2005.

Debbie Isitt has made two feature films, the first in 2000 'Nasty Neighbours' starred Ricky Tomlinson

Ricky Tomlinson

Eric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....

 as the neighbour from hell. Nasty Neighbours was selected for the Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 and was distributed by Red Bus (now Lionsgate). Isitt also created, developed and directed the film Confetti released in 2006 by 20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...

. The cast included Martin Freeman

Martin Freeman

Martin John C. Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his roles as John in Love Actually, Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. John Watson in Sherlock and Mr. Madden...

 and Jessica Stevenson

Jessica Stevenson

Jessica Hynes is an English actress and writer. She was known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007.She is possibly best known as one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom Spaced....

.

Isitt is renowned for her work with actors and improvisation. Confetti was entirely improvised by the cast under the watchful eye of Isitt. No one in the movie had a clue what the outcome of the movie would be - not even Isitt herself. Isitt was inspired to make a wedding comedy after watching her sister plan her wedding. After months of planning her sister went blind on her wedding day. Isitt claims it was the best wedding she had ever been to.

Nativity, her second feature film, was released in November 2009.

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