Wikipedia

Juliet Gilkes Romero

Juliet Gilkes Romero, previously credited as Juliet Gilkes[1] (IPA: /dʒɪlks/),[2] is an English playwright and screenwriter, known for "politically charged"[3] works that discuss British colonial history, Black British history, and slavery. Her accolades include the Writers' Guild Award for Theatre Play in 2009[4] and the Alfred Fagon Award in 2020.[5] Romero was also known for her career in journalism, notably working as part of BBC World Service before entering the theatre industry.[6]

Juliet Gilkes Romero
Born
Juliet Gilkes

London
Occupation
  • Dramatist
  • screenwriter
  • lecturer
Alma materUniversity of Brighton
Goldsmiths, University of London
Notable awardsWriters' Guild Award for Theatre Play (2009)
Alfred Fagon Award (2020)
Board member of
HighTide
The Film and Television Charity
Academic work
DisciplineCreative writing
Sub-discipline
Script writing
Institutions
Website
julietgilkesromero.co.uk

Early life and education

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Romero was born in East London[7] to a Barbadian father and a Trinidadian mother.[8] She grew up in Trimley St Mary, Suffolk,[9] having moved there with her family in the late 1970s. Her father worked for BT in Martlesham and her mother was a teacher, the first Black person in her profession in Suffolk. She has one brother.[7][9]

Romero has credited her love of writing and storytelling to her parents, who brought her up with stories and books[10] and who often took her to the theatre.[7] She started writing from a young age, with one of her earliest works being a musical adaptation of Alice Through The Looking Glass.[8]

Romero studied French and linguistics at University of Brighton.[11][9]

Career

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Journalism

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Romero joined the BBC in 1987 as a local radio news producer and reporter.[8] As a journalist, she has worked as a foreign affairs reporter and producer for BBC World Service Radio and BBC World TV, reporting from countries including Ethiopia, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.[6] She left the BBC in 2010[12] and continued to work as a freelance journalist, including for Sky News, before going full-time as a playwright. Romero has spoken openly about the lack of diversity in the field of journalism, as well as the challenges she faced as one of the few Black female journalists in the newsroom.[13]

Scriptwriting

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While still working as a journalist, Romero decided to pursue screenwriting, having previously written recreationally.[12] She took a sabbatical to study Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, earning a Master of Arts degree in 2001.[6][14] She wrote her first play during the course and has since established a career in playwriting.

Romero is known as a playwright for "politically charged" productions.[3] Romero sees her work as a way to inform the public of "how society has been formed by events omitted from our history books" and considers "unravel[ling] what has lain untold and buried for political expediency" a key mission for her as a writer.[15] Her first short play, Bilad Al-Sudan, was written in response to the genocidal conflict in Darfur in 2006 and was staged at the Tricycle Theatre (now Kiln Theatre) as part of the How Long Is Never collection of short plays curated by Nicolas Kent.[1][16] Romero's first full length production, At the Gates of Gaza (2008), follows the story of the British West Indies regiment after World War I.[15] Most recently, her play The Whip (2020) explores the legacy of slavery.[17]

Romero was a Writer in Residence at the National Theatre for the 2022/23 season within the New Works Department.[18] In addition to writing plays, she has also written for radio[19] and television.[20]

At the Gates of Gaza (2008)

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Romero wrote her first full length play, At the Gates of Gaza, as part of her MA course.[12]

The play was produced at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 2008[21] and won the Writers' Guild Award for Theatre Play the following year.[22] The production also toured across the UK, including performances at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds,[23] New Wolsey Theatre,[24] and Harrogate Theatre.[25]

The Whip (2020)

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The Whip examined the abolition of slavery in Britain, particularly in the lead up to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 and the associated bailout of former slave owners - unknown to most members of the public until the publication of a (soon deleted) tweet from HM Revenue and Customs in 2018.[17][26] The play was produced by Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered at the Swan Theatre in February 2020, though the run was unexpectedly cut short the following month due to the outbreak of COVID-19.[17] An audio-drama production of the play was released on RSC's official YouTube channel in October 2020 to mark Black History Month.[27] It was re-released the following January and remained available until 16 March 2021.[28]

The Whip won the Alfred Fagon Award in 2020.[5]

Academic career

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Romero was appointed as a Creative Fellow at the University of Birmingham in 2018.[14] She was a Royal Literary Fund fellow at London South Bank University from 2021 to 2023 and from 2024 to 2025.[11] She is an associate lecturer of the MA Dramaturgy & Writing for Performance programme at Goldsmiths, her alma mater.[29]

Personal life

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Romero resides in Sydenham, London.[9] She is a trustee of The Film and Television Charity[30] and HighTide, a theatre company in Suffolk, where she grew up.[7]

Writing credits

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Plays

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Year Title Venue(s)/ Production company Note
2006 Bilad Al-Sudan Tricycle Theatre Part of the How Long Is Never collection in response to genocidal conflict in Darfur, Sudan[1]
2008 At The Gates of Gaza Birmingham Repertory Theatre and UK tour [21][23][24][25]
2015 Upper Cut Southwark Playhouse [31]
2018 Razing Cane Stephen Joseph Theatre Rehearsed reading;[32] previously shortlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award in 2013[33]
Day of The Living The Other Place, Royal Shakespeare Company Co-written with Darren Clark and Amy Draper[34]
2020 The Whip The Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company [17]
2020 The gift (in the 15 Heroines series) Jermyn Street Theatre; filmed for online streaming A retelling of Medea[35]

Television

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Year Title Channel / Network(s) Note
2019 Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle BBC Four Episode 4 - Yvonne (1981)[20]

Audio drama

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Year Title Network Note
2019 One Hot Summer BBC Radio 4 [19]

Published play texts

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  • Gilkes, Juliet A. (2007). "Bilad al Sudan". In Bhim, Michael (ed.). How long is never? Darfur, a response. London: Josef Weinberger Ltd. ISBN 978-0-85676-299-4.
  • Romero, Juliet G. (2015). At the Gates of Gaza. Modern Plays. London: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-78319-173-4.
  • Romero, Juliet G. (2015). Upper cut. Modern plays. London: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-78319-172-7.
  • Clark, Darren; Draper, Amy; Romero, Juliet G. (2018). "Day of the Living". Making Mischief. Modern plays. London: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-78682-557-5.

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work(s) Result Note
2009 Writers' Guild Award Theatre Play At the Gates of Gaza Won [22]
2013 Alfred Fagon Award Razing Cane Shortlisted [33]
2019 The Roland Rees Bursary N/a Won [36]
Alfred Fagon Award State of the Union Longlisted [37]
2020 Alfred Fagon Award The Whip Won [5]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "How Long is Never: Darfur - a response". Kiln Theatre. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  2. ↑ "Gilkes | Pronunciation in English". dictionary.cambridge.org. 25 March 2026. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  3. 1 2 Mitchell, Tamika (6 November 2020). "TBB Talks To… Juliet Gilkes Romero All Things 15 Heroines | The British Blacklist". Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  4. ↑ "Writers' Guild Awards 2009". Writers' Guild of Great Britain. 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 "2020 Alfred Fagon Award".
  6. 1 2 3 "Dr Fiona Graham: An interview with alumna Juliet Gilkes Romero – Theatre and Performance Blog". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Williams, Molly (24 June 2024). "HighTide: An Interview with Juliet Gilkes Romero". Suffolk Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 "Juliet Gilkes Romero in conversation with Colin Grant". WritersMosaic Magazine. 17 December 2025. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Crewe, Charity (17 July 2025). ""Art is the soul of society"". Living in Suffolk Coastal. No. 50. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 26 March 2026 – via Issuu.
  10. ↑ "Juliet Gilkes Romero, part 1". Royal Literary Fund. 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
  11. 1 2 "Juliet Gilkes Romero". Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  12. 1 2 3 "Theatre: Juliet Gilkes Romero's new play The Whip comes to RSC". Alt-Africa. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  13. ↑ "Juliet Gilkes Romero". The Amplify project. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  14. 1 2 "University of Birmingham appoints acclaimed playwright as Creative Fellow". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  15. 1 2 "Interview: Juliet Gilkes Romero". Redbrick. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  16. ↑ Westenra, Charlotte (26 October 2006). "How long is never?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "The Whip | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  18. ↑ "Writer: Juliet Gilkes Romero". Lisa Richards Creatives.
  19. 1 2 "BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, One Hot Summer". BBC. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  20. 1 2 "Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  21. 1 2 Cavendish, Dominic. "Review: At the Gates of Gaza, Wuthering Heights and The Killing of Sister George - Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  22. 1 2 "Writers' Guild Awards 2009".
  23. 1 2 "Surprising yet thoughtful drama". East Anglian Daily Times. 21 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2026. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  24. 1 2 "Ipswich Connexions for Writers' Guild Prize-winners". WhatsOnStage.com. 4 December 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2026. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  25. 1 2 "Take a trip". Craven Herald. 24 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2026. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  26. ↑ Jays, David (26 January 2020). "The scandal of the £20bn bailout to slave-owning Brits". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  27. ↑ Ell, Jenny (18 January 2021). "The RSC re-releases audio recording of The Whip online". West End Best Friend. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  28. ↑ Rabinowitz, Chloe (18 January 2021). "New Recording of The Royal Shakespeare Company's THE WHIP Now Available- Join Their Special Listen-Along Event". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  29. ↑ "MA Dramaturgy & Writing for Performance". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  30. ↑ "Meet the team". The Film and TV Charity. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  31. ↑ Billington, Michael (19 January 2015). "Upper Cut review – whistle-stop tour of parliament boots Labour back to the 80s". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  32. ↑ Hutchinson, Charles (23 April 2018). "Stephen Joseph Theatre to give rehearsed readings of new plays in Second Stage showcase". York Press. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  33. 1 2 "2013 Award". Alfred Fagon Award. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  34. ↑ Haynes, Natalie (6 June 2018). "#WeAreArrested / Day of the Living review – voices from the dungeon and of the disappeared". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  35. ↑ "15 Heroines". Jermyn Street Theatre. November 2020.
  36. ↑ "The Roland Rees Bursary 2019". Alfred Fagon Award. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  37. ↑ "2019 Award". Alfred Fagon Award. Retrieved 29 June 2026.
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