'If the sky dropped the stars
or the river drained the water there would be outrage, but we treat children like this and there is silence.'
Something's not right. Children are being raised by animals. A mother is slowly sinking in the bath. The trees are left doing the paperwork. The air is filled with screams of children howling for help. And some twins want to tell you a story about how everything got so fucked up.
A spiralling odyssey of dizzying theatricality, Wolfie is a bold, fantastical fairytale following two twins separated at birth and asks who is truly responsible for society's most vulnerable children.
Ross Willis's debut play is a wildly imaginative, irreverent look at life in and after the care system. It was premiered at Theatre503, London, in March 2019, directed by Theatre503 Artistic Director Lisa Spirling.
Wolfie was awarded Best Play at the 2020 Writers' Guild Awards, and Best New Play at the 2020 Off-West End Awards. It also earned Willis a nomination for Best Writer at the 2019 Stage Debut Awards and Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
'Playful, anarchic... Willis has a gift for surreal dialogue'
— Guardian
'A striking debut... a fairy tale with bite, sinking its teeth into the frailties of the care system and the human cost of its limitations... Ross Willis is a fresh and fearless voice, clearly itching to test the boundaries of theatre'
— Evening Standard
'Wild, raw, full of fury and wonder, this debut play is a ragged thing of ferocious beauty... Willis's writing snarls, snaps, howls at the moon and gazes at the stars; it is tender, thrillingly vital and glittering with hope'
— The Times
'Laugh-out-loud funny yet never hesitating to be brutally honest when necessary, this is a bold start from the award-winner Willis, surely one worth keeping a beady eye on'
— WhatsOnStage
'A strange and striking debut play... Mighty Boosh'-esque doses of weirdness'
— Time Out
'Splendidly surreal'
— Broadway World
Best New Play, Off-West End Theatre Awards
Best Play, Writers' Guild Awards
About the Author :
Ross Willis is a playwright from Bristol, the UK. His plays include: Wolfie (Theatre503, London, 2019) and Wonder Boy (Bristol Old Vic, 2022).
Wolfie won Best New Play at both the Writers' Guild Awards and the Off-West End Awards 2020, and also earned him a nomination for Best Writer at the 2019 Stage Debut Awards and Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. He won the 2019 Royal Court and Kudos Fellowship and the 2019 Channel 4 Playwright Award. He has been described as 'a fresh and fearless voice' in British theatre.
Review :
'Playful, anarchic... Willis has a gift for surreal dialogue'
'A striking debut... a fairy tale with bite, sinking its teeth into the frailties of the care system and the human cost of its limitations... Ross Willis is a fresh and fearless voice, clearly itching to test the boundaries of theatre'
'Wild, raw, full of fury and wonder, this debut play is a ragged thing of ferocious beauty... Willis's writing snarls, snaps, howls at the moon and gazes at the stars; it is tender, thrillingly vital and glittering with hope'
'Laugh-out-loud funny yet never hesitating to be brutally honest when necessary, this is a bold start from the award-winner Willis, surely one worth keeping a beady eye on'
'A strange and striking debut play... Mighty Boosh’-esque doses of weirdness'
'Splendidly surreal'
