SKIN A CAT
(VAULT festival 2016)
"Funny and heart-breaking ... Explores a young woman’s struggle with her sexuality with excruciating detail, daring to say the unsayable. Brimming with great scenes and brilliantly complex characters, this is a powerful and transgressive play."
- Leo Butler
"Where stories about sexual liberation go from 0 to 10 really quickly, where characters are either one extreme or its other, Isley's play is rare: A human story firmly in the middle, that presents a physical, detailed, touching, and entirely new light on the female sexual organ and the complexities of having one." - Inua Ellams
★★★★★
Broadway Baby
Surprisingly, given this sensitive subject matter, Skin a Cat is an uproariously funny story about one woman’s search for sexual fulfilment ... Lynn’s script is perfectly nuanced, sweeping from hilarious physical comedy that reminds how undignified and silly sex can be (particularly if you’re a woman) to more seriously and poignant moments as the sweet but confused Alana slowly learns to come to terms with her condition. Larson is innocently charming in this pertinent story which transcends being gratuitous but rather allows the audience to follow and share in a traumatic but also uplifting story of sexual discovery against the odds. - Lettie Mckie
★★★★
The Stage
Verdict: Frank, fresh, funny and disarmingly candid play about one woman’s sexual identity
Isley Lynn’s frank and funny new play Skin a Cat explores how upsetting and isolating it can be when something which gives most people pleasure is a source of pain and anxiety ... Lynn’s play is eloquent and insightful about the pressures people place on themselves, not just to have lost their virginity by a certain age, but also to conform in other ways when it comes to sexual experience. Frequently hilarious, it’s also refreshingly honest and open in its discussion of menstruation, masturbation, oral and anal sex, and might well be the smartest, sharpest piece about female sexual identity since Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag ... there’s something so rousing and refreshing about the whole production; this is bold and genuinely exciting new writing which deserves to have a life beyond this short run. - Natasha Tripney
★★★★★
Female Arts
While the play is very frank in its discussion and depiction of sex, it is never 'titillating' and always emotionally truthful. While scanning the audience at certain points, it was good to see both men and women laugh and make noises of recognition as they recalled sex and 'those conversations' as they're really like, rather than how they're depicted on TV or on the movies. It is this attention to detail in her characters and their world that makes her writing so rich and her characters so easy to identify with. I'm hesitant to make comparisons to other works of 'art' or media, but if I had to, in terms of tone and candour, then Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex, Skins, Teeth, Mark O'Brien's The Sessions and Judy Blume's canon springs to mind. - Michael Davis
★★★★
Views From The Gods
There's an overwhelming sense of honesty throughout the dialogue, with visceral, almost brutal and so very relatable descriptions ... It's a hugely relatable and refreshingly honest piece which bravely tackles sexual dysfunction with both sensitivity and humour.
The Play's The Thing
Refreshingly frank, honest writing. Theatre (and Western culture) doesn’t shy away from heteronormative sex, but a main character that hates it due to a psychosexual disorder is most rare indeed. ... Lynn’s gift for dialogue and detailed characters within a cleverly framed style shines here, and is generally well supported by director Blythe Stewart ... Lynn and Stewart use humour delightfully and liberally in both the writing and staging. Sex, attempted sex and orgasms hilariously abound, along with poignancy, tenderness and dogged desperation. It’s a beautiful balance. ... Skin A Cat evokes belly laughs and empathy, nostalgia and wonder. Though it raises awareness of a psychosexual condition, Lynn manages to not make this an “awareness” play. Instead, it’s a story about growing up, loving yourself and making friends with your body’s quirks. Excellent writing and committed performances in Skin A Cat prove Isley Lynn and the cast are ones to watch. - Laura Kressly
Stuff I've Seen
Skin A Cat skilfully avoids the conventional trappings of the sex comedy genre – the nude-tone unsexy underwear and plain duvet bed set, plus the stylised portrayal of sexual sequences means this never tips over into spectacle or squalor. This is not about titillation, humiliation, or tired battle-of-the-sexes gags. This is about humans, and connection. How sexuality doesn’t mean jumping through hoops, but being who you are ... Eventually the world will understand that there are as many sexualities as there are individuals, and we’re starting to see that shift. Plays like this can help push that understanding forward and in the words of Alana, that’s “fucking brilliant”. - Stephanie Gunner
ROJOSPINKS
I had no idea I’d be in for an intensely emotional, funny, visceral, and lump-in-the-back-of-the-throat-for-two-hours kind of experience. A feminist coming of age tale, Skin of a Cat had me emotionally invested from the very first scene - Rosie J. Spinks
LITTLE STITCHES
(Theatre503 / Arcola / Gate Theatre 2014)
★★★★
The Evening Standard
The first play offered by director Alex Crampton, Sleight of Hand from Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme graduate Isley Lynn, is also the most accomplished, craftily insinuating that every member of society, no matter what they do, could potentially have a role to play in stopping the mutilation of vulnerable young women. We hear feisty, interlinking monologues from a teacher, an air hostess, an ice cream van man and a postwoman; they have an uneasy feeling that something isn’t right but will they have the courage to speak up in time? - Fiona Mountford
★★★★
The Times
Sleight of Hand by Isley Lynn darkens subtly, interweaving monologues by chatty but increasingly uneasy Brits ... whose glimpses of an unhappy primary school girl the audience gradually pieces together. - Kate Bassett
★★★★
The Independent
Piercingly eloquent ... A profoundly upsetting evening but one which, as with all good art, gives one at least the consolation of enhanced clarity as it explores this barbarous ritual from various angles ... Let's not mince words: FGM is the attempted lobotomy of the victim's sexual nature – a fact unforgettably brought home here. - Paul Taylor
★★★★
The Upcoming
Little Stitches, however, does not fail to entertain. The opening play features five individuals who each encounter FGM in some distant way through their different lines of work. The characterisations are rich and varied, each complementing the other as they fluently dip in and out of rapid, crisp monologues. The clarity and diversity of speech is a real marvel to behold ... The style of the opening play is reminiscent of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and serves to give a comedic undertone that is open and familiar, jarring spectacularly with the presence of FGM. - Alex Finch
★★★
Time Out
The first play, ‘Sleight of Hand’ by Isley Lynn, is the strongest. It presents four characters ... all of whom ignore odd things they’ve noticed about a young girl in their neighbourhood. - Daisy Bowie-Sell
★★★★
The Arts Desk
The first two plays map out a verbal panorama of a community questioning when to be suspicious and how and when to engage, and both works provide an ever-growing sense of how women anticipate the act of FGM and might then deal with the aftermath. - Naima Khan
★★★★
The Metropolist
Sleight of Hand asks if not knowing or understanding enough is an excuse for turning a blind eye. - Liam Fleming
Postscript Journal
Isley Lynn manages to achieve a sickening acceleration towards the inevitable in a narrative to which we know the end before the beginning, as the voices of five members of the public who touch the life of an unhappy child are interwoven to expose their well-meaning failure to intervene. Lynn’s SLEIGHT OF HAND is the most accomplished of the plays, but each contributes to giving a necessary voice to victims of a crime that seems to be thriving – in part – on silence. - Sophie Scott
There Ought To Be Clowns
Alex Crampton ingeniously directs a company of five in a way which never preaches yet still asks its questions in a searching enough manner that means one doesn’t get off the hook that easily. Isley Lynn’s opening Sleight of Hand is the most effective of the pieces in that respect, combining five monologues from different members of society on the periphery of FGM, each suspecting that something isn’t quite right but unsure about what if anything they might be able to do. From teachers to ice-cream vendors, a slyly comic tone seduces us in and then leaves us disarmed as the reality of what these women are forced to endure becomes apparent.
Making Herstory
Multi-layered, thought-provoking and for the most part elegantly simple, engaging and entertaining: in that sense the production is subtly spectacular. By humanising the story and making it less about “us” and “them”, we obtain a deeper understanding of what drives a practice few can comprehend. - Dena Kirpalani
(Omnibus 2015)
★★★★★
Theatre Bubble
An example of the power of theatre and how it can ‘open doors’ for discussions in communities that are very private. - Verity Healey
★★★★
Theatre full stop
The jigsaw puzzle-esque manner of the monologues are endearing, but become hard hitting once all of the monologue pieces join together and become more in sync with one another, creating a complete picture of a young girls [sic] harrowing experiences. - Lucy Basaba
A Younger Theatre
It’s a fascinatingly clever piece that demonstrates how invisible FGM can be unless you can see the whole picture. As Stephanie Yamson’s wonderfully likeable postwoman, proud of her ability with sleight of hand, says, it can be “right in front of your eyes, and you still don’t see it”. - Briony Rawle
TETHER
(Underbelly - Big Belly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015)
TOP TEN SHOWS OF 2015
The Play's The Thing
Refreshingly unromantic and driven by dialogue and characterisation. This is a simple and powerful piece by a promising young writer set in a world rarely considered by non-disabled people. - Laura Kressly
★★★★
Fest
A joy to experience - Lewis Porteous
★★★★
The Stage
Taut, nuanced piece exploring trust, ambition and the relationship between a runner and her guide ... Lynn’s play is one of clarity and focus. ... it’s refreshing to see a piece which is very much about trust and the nuances of friendship between a man and a woman – Natasha Tripney
Exeunt Magazine
“Cutting edge new writing”
★★★★
The overriding sensation of watching Tether is one of physical tension – the lactic tug of tired limbs, of plastic cutting into wrists, of breath and choppy momentum, of every security in the next step being an illusion, but surging forward, urgent, regardless.
- David Ralf
The Play's The Thing UK
Playwright Isley Lynn’s script is some of the best new writing I’ve seen in a long time. The characters are intricately detailed and exquisitely sculpted with enough contrasting goals to create natural dramatic conflict without excess ... This is an unmissable new play from a Royal Court graduate that offers insight into a world rarely considered before the London Paralympics 2012. It is a great step towards increasing the visibility of disabled performers and deserves further attention beyond Edinburgh Fringe.
- Laura Kressly
★★★★
Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
Full of joy, with a witty and invigorating script, Tether is an uplifting tale that will have you looking for your running shoes as soon as you leave the theatre. A feel-good play that will certainly brighten your day. – Mariana Mercado
★★★★
Ed Fringe Review
Understated but powerful, Tether, a new piece of writing by Isley Lynn, is a fresh and compelling exploration of ambition, dependence and trust. … its power quietly sinks in in the show’s aftermath, long after the pair have run their final race. Lynn’s lightness of touch belies the skilfulness of her writing in dealing so succinctly and movingly with serious themes without resorting to sentimentality – Stasia Carver
★★★★★
Pocket Size Theatre
Writer Isley Lynn has clearly done extensive research into the sport and has dug deep into the world of Paralympic athletes and in doing so, has created an authentic and honest script. - Andy Edmeads
★★★★
Broadway Baby
Whilst Isley Lynn's Tether fuels excitement for next summer, her script refreshingly brings with it an emphasis on the personal side to our hopefuls for the Games in 2016 ... This inspirational story reminds us of the extraordinary efforts disabled athletes go through. - Dan Parker
Nouse
A welcome addition to the sports drama genre that’s surprisingly unsentimental. … The ending is pleasantly realistic with no overly dramatic, drawn out battle to the finish line. Tether is about learning to accept that you’ll never fulfil your biggest ambitions no matter how hard you try as much as it is about persevering and staying determined. It’s a refreshing message in a genre that often suggests that self-belief is the answer to everything and will always guarantee success. - Amy Wong
★Recommended Show★
Fringe Review
A compelling and fast paced script ... illuminates a world few of will have experience of [sic] through an intensely intimate and personal story. - Kate Saffin
The Scotsman
Compelling … This is a play which speaks of emotional truth and of well-researched insight into a unique experience
- David Pollock
The List
In Hollywood's hands Tether could so easily be an over-sentimental tale of self-sacrifice, but Isley Lynn's script focusses instead on the raw ambition of competitive athletes. - Rowena McIntosh
Edinburgh News
There aren't many Fringe shows willing to tackle disability. It's even rarer they are willing to put it in such a positive, non-patronising light. - Barry Gordon
The Stage
Isley Lynn’s Ideastap Award winning play, Tether, which explored the relationship between a female athlete and her coach, was similarly refreshing in its depiction of a friendship entirely fuelled by the characters’ mutual love of their chosen sport and their understanding of each other’s thirst for success. - Natasha Tripney
LEAN
(Tristan Bates Theatre 2013)
★★★★.5
The London Stage
The most impressive part of this play is its script. It’s not just powerful but it’s incandescent. There is a profound intensity... that truly keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. Sensitively written. Rambunctiously performed. Exemplary theatre at its best.
★★★★★
What's Peen Seen
The true star of the show is Isley Lynn’s script. It is staggeringly powerful, emotionally frank and does justice to a complex issue. Lean is an important play, and this is a brilliant production of it. Lynn has a bright future ahead. - Ed Theakston
★★★★★
The New Current
"Lean" is a production that doesn't rest easy with you afterwards and for the past 12 hours I have been thinking of nothing else.
★★★★
WhatsOnStage
Then I realised it wasn’t the play that is wrong, it was me and my preconceptions and I realised how clever this production is and how brilliantly it has been written and performed. - Rhiannon Lawson
★★★★
Plays to See
Isley Lynn’s two-hander play is engaging, challenging and at times funny. - Sophie Nevrkla
★★★★
Everything Theatre
The play stays with you when you leave - unsurprisingly. In this case, this is no bad thing.
★★★★
Fringe Review
A monumental success... I'd highly recommend this moving and important production. - Krista Lahey-James
The Stage
A tense reflection on our relationship with food, with each other and with Countdown. Lynn is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme and tackles tough issues in as head-on a manner as her fellow graduate, Polly Stenham. Lean manages to be both informative and sensitive, as well as gradually unravelling an unexpected twist. - Lauren Paxman
HI! Magazine
Not so much an ode to love as a redemptive force but a battle cry for it. - Stephanie Gunner
Remotegoat
Modern in feel and classical in structure, with tragedy at the heart of a compelling drama. - Christopher Adams
Fitcetera
Lean is the very cleverly written first play by Isley Lynn. Tackling an issue as sensitive as Anorexia was never going to be easy, but the play unfolds effortlessly with the illness at it's epicentre. - Georgina Spenceley
Fresh… fascinating… boldly original – Soho Theatre
Unusual and striking – Royal Court Theatre
Brave, intelligent new writing by an exciting talent - Tristan Bates Theatre
It tackles an important issue with sensitivity and dramatic power – Paines Plough
If you want to know what the future of British Theatre looks like, you have to see this show - Kayo Chingonyi
Utterly revolutionary... a paradigm shift in contemporary writing - Adam Cunis
I cannot recommend it highly enough; clever, touching, obscenely intimate, crushingly honest. - Dashiel Munding
The best and most powerful thing I've seen in 2013 - Jennifer Ball
Unashamedly frank about the motivating forces and consequences of anorexia – Henry Morris
Visceral, exciting, unlike any other new writing I've seen. Electrifying performances. Go! - Sarah Kosar
This play is a tour de force for two actors. I suppose there are still people around who think anorexia is a posh name for nothing very serious. It’s good to see a play that takes the problem seriously. – Peter Thompson
(Corpus Playroom 2015)
★★★★★
Cambridge Theatre Review
Lean is a powerful, thought-provoking piece of drama about the psychological implications of anorexia. At times overwhelming, its unexpected humour and moments of intense tenderness make it a complex and brilliant production. Lean does something unusual in its subject matter, handling the sensitive issue of anorexia without using familiar (though valid) tropes of celebrity culture or body image. Instead, based on the playwright’s own relationship with a male anorexic, it focuses more on the deeply complex psychological aspect of anorexia - Tara Lee
★★★★
Cambridge Varsity
Her accurate depiction of one man’s battle with his obsessive behaviour and withdrawal from the world is what makes this play bold, important, and irrefutably worthy of this second run. - Charlotte Saul
Cambridge Tab
But Lean, the superb debut of up-and-coming playwright Isley Lynn, managed to cut down and burn to the ground all of my expectations, defences and dignity. The striking climax of a finalé left me – and, as I was quick to check, at least 40% of the audience – looking like we were ready to crawl into the foetal position, try not to cry, and cry – a lot. - Vica Germanova, 74 (Strong First)
Cambridge Tab
Perhaps most importantly, Lean wasn’t just a play about anorexia – it took the illness and made it a central aspect, but beyond that built a fully-fledged drama: at times humourous, at times shocking, and never patronising. - Will Popplewell
(TheatreN16 2015)
★★★★★
London Theatre 1
A powerful and gripping piece of theatre. - Terry Eastham
VARIOUS
In classic Lynn style, all was not as it first appeared. – Joe Hooper, IdeasTap
Isley Lynn's amazing poetry show was as close to a perfect performance as I've seen: open, funny, clever, truthful, moving, touching. Isley is a wonderful writer and a great performer that draws you in rather than shouting at you. Look out for it in the future. – David Lockwood, Bike Shed Theatre
It’s adult, it’s very clever, and it will have you splitting your sides – Jeremy Child
I was hooked – Gina Sherman, Apples and Snakes
It blew me away – Emily Williams, Barbican Theatre Plymouth
Very honest and sincere… I feel moved and changed. – Monique Luckman, Wide Awake Devon
It is very refreshing to read work which explores love in such a frank and honest way. There are not many people brave enough to do it. - Kayo Chingonyi
Some of the most amusing, powerful and intensely personal pieces of work I have ever seen – Tom Angell, SourDough Theatre
Her stuff is fantastic - moving, arousing, humorous, technically brilliant and achingly honest – Andrew Bate
Gritty, raw and passionate writing – TrailBlaze Theatre
Captivating... such honesty and humility, yet a definite confidence. Wicked work. – Matthew Cummins
Hilarious, moving – Carla Lever
Fantastic, warm, honest and amusing – Sebastian Constantine
Sharp tongued yet sweetly sincere words from Isley Lynn - Apples and Snakes
