🫧 Íde Simpson 🫧

Wow, totally delighted and gobsmacked to be included in the British Theatre Guide’s top 10 Northern Irish shows of 2024. No less to be among such fab company, with @emilysforan ’s gorgeous ‘Little Women’, Owen Mcafferty’s ‘Agreement’, and @michaelpatrick314 ’s absolute masterclass of Richard III to name a few. Cailíní took a village to make happen, and we are indebted to everyone who helped us in that journey. Link to the article is in my bio! A brilliant note to close out 2024, I cannot wait to bring forth more new work this year. Expect a lot more from me on here ✍🏻 Grma! X

Stills from a new short film, ‘PEOPLE TELL ME EVERYTHING’ written by me, and filmed in Calabria, Italy with the most stunning crew of people 📽️ DIRECTED BY @anissavacosta DOP: @yuli_freed WRITTEN BY: @idesimpson PRODUCER: @tommy_maistri SOUND: @adina.ctin , @noah_films1 , @elsaa.nadine ELLA played by @lauraacopeland CASSIE played by @idesimpson LUCIA played by the brilliant Maria Fillipo, who owns the fabulous @l800locandaapalazzo , and kindly let us shoot there amongst so many other generous things. Keep your eyes peeled for the future of this short, so grateful to have got to work on this with such talented filmmakers from around the world 👀🌎 Stills credit: @yuli_freed 📸

Tomorrow evening in Brooklyn, an excerpt from my new play “Spates of God” will be performed alongside these gorgeous people ⭐️💫🧚🏼‍♀️ If you happen to be in New York, do come to @spoonbillbooks tomorrow evening for what will be a lovely affair of music, words and wine! Mwah x

Jack of a few trades, Master (with distinction!!!!!!!!) of one 👩‍🎓 @the__lir is forever ♥️

On the precipice of graduation from @the__lir , I thought it only appropriate to acknowledge the badass women who set me onto this playwriting/acting hybrid mad old journey in the first place. Shoutout to the incredible Karis Kelly, whose play ‘Consumed’ closes this week at The Park Theatre after an acclaimed run throughout the UK, thank you for being such a champion of young writers, and for being such a fab friend. Without the hope and care of Hilary Fannin, Úna Kavanagh, Rebecca Mairs, Emily Dedakis, and Karis Kelly in my first forays into playwriting with @fightingwordsni , I definitely would’ve put the pen down by now. This is by no means an exhaustive list, I am surrounded by brilliant women ♥️ Catch Karis’ play this week @parktheatrelondon and thank a playwright near you for existing x x x

⚡️PEOPLE TELL ME EVERYTHING ⚡️ After her passing, two Irish sisters take a trip to their mother’s hometown in Italy in search of the one thing she’s left behind. The trailer for my first ever screenplay is here!!! 😭 It’s about chosen families, language barriers, and really just a massive love letter to Calabria. Massive thank you and love to the fabulous team who have been working tirelessly on this film for the past year. And to all of our amazing dancers…Biggest thanks of all though to @anissavacosta @yuli_freed and @lauraacopeland , found some of my bestfriends for life on this film, and I can’t wait for you all to see it 🌺

World Theatre Day. Recently I’ve been writing, reading, acting, doing, seeing a lot, and not really wanting to talk much about anything. I’ve been feeling strange about things I’d never usually feel strange about — posting on the internet about creative work, showing my face, being open about all the love that’s in my world, bursting at the seams — because it just all seemed so futile when the world is so tender. I’ve also been feeling like it might be time to change that attitude. I’m strongly aware that life is too short and really, choosing to live in the face of it all is a pretty brave thing to do. Wanted to post this as a reminder that you are talented, valued and shouldn’t bury yourself away in doubt or fear. Heads are messy; but I’ve been trying desperately to find any light, and chase it, not let it go. In an interview she gave to the Paris Review, Edna O’Brien said, ‘Well, fuck the plot! That is for precocious schoolboys. What matters is the imaginative truth.’ Choosing to be an artist, no matter what, is the truest thing I can do. Mind your lovely heads. Happy World Theatre Day, a belated hola to the Year of the Horse. Here we go 💐🐎✍🏻 Íde x

I haven’t seen a play like that in years. A play that held an audience by it’s throat like that. An auditorium where you absolutely could’ve heard a pin drop (apart from various weeps around the room). A play about humanity, love, grief, and hope - all of the best things. A play about moving on, or never really. Bravo @royalcourttheatre and the fantastic Luke Norris, proof that a 90-minute sucker-punch of a 2-hander is where it’s at. THIS is why we make theatre, thanks so much for the reminder ✍🏻✨

A new poem! In @icarustcd ! I write one poem a year usually, and this one made it into Ireland’s oldest arts journal. It’s for my brilliant friend and favourite poet, Maria McManus, and it’s for the lough 🪼 Okay, back to hibernation x

Back in London, @aktaphotography thanks for these shots of my bed-head :) 👩🏼‍🦰🪄💋

Delighted to be a @dublinfringefest artist. Delighted to have worked with such a talented cohort of people to make this happen. Bloody delighted at deciding to study an MFA in playwriting at @the__lir , and ONLY just delighted to be one of only four female playwrights to study the degree in 2024/25. Writing is a fundamental part of human existence — especially when it isn’t done by a computer/weird faceless AI bot on your behalf. Great people are fighting to keep it that way, long may we fight ✍🏻 Bye Lir, hello world. #writingismagic

Filled every page in my favourite notebook. Got myself a full length play that I love. Asking all the right and wrong questions. Had the completely effervescent and talented @abigail.mcgibbon and Charlie Bonner read the first full draft of the script. How lucky am I? Read lots of brilliant books in the research process (some included here). Proud and tired and have learnt so much about writing and the world this year. Excerpts from my new play ‘We’re Still Here’ and my gorgeous fellow MFA playwright’s work will be showcased as part of @dublinfringefest at @the__lir this Saturday. Tickets are sold out but the waiting list remains open! Writers rock, but so do all the amazing people who support them. Lotsa love to all my people ❤️🪩🍸