JOY NESBITT
Director | Writer | Musician
Rooted in OffWestEnd’s commitment to championing innovation, diversity and creative risk, OffFest serves as a showcase for the breadth of talent working across the UK and beyond.
Premiering in the Upstairs Space of the Royal Court Theatre in London, UK, as part of their 70th Anniversary Season in 2026.
A short film directed by Joy Nesbitt
Rooted in OffWestEnd’s commitment to championing innovation, diversity and creative risk, OffFest serves as a showcase for the breadth of talent working across the UK and beyond.
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Part confessional, part peep-show booth, step inside and enjoy a free, five-minute performance that showcases the best of Irish writing, performed by one actor for one audience member.
Six short plays are performed in rotation as part of this unique theatrical experience, each written specifically for this project, including writing by Enda Walsh, Marina Carr and Mark O'Rowe. Audiences are invited to join a queue and wait in line for their surprise, one-on-one performance.
Breaking the boundaries between performer and audience member, the experience 'evokes an exhilarating sense of aliveness’ (★★★★★, Guardian).
Theatre For One, conceived by Artistic Director Christine Jones, was first performed in 2003 and has been staged in public spaces across the world including Ireland, Canada and America. Landmark Productions has championed the work of Irish creatives at home and internationally for over 20 years, partnering with Octopus Theatricals to bring Theatre for One to international audiences.
Six short plays are performed in rotation as part of this unique theatrical experience. You won't know what play you are seeing until you're sat in the booth and the performance begins.
The Spur by Mark O'Rowe
Cave by Enda Walsh
Dear Rosa by Joy Nesbitt
Cygnum Caticum by Marina Carr
Ambition by Katie Holly
The Wedding by Louise O’Neill
Landmark Productions / Octopus Theatricals: Theatre for One
The Barbican - London, UK
12—22 March 2026
'This belongs to me as much as it belongs to you.'
Bullock Creek, South Carolina, 1862: Ginnie Good raises five children in a cabin as a war rages outside.
Today: A woman rents the cabin on AirBnB to conjure her ancestors.
Playwright Joy Nesbitt makes her Royal Court debut with this new play about complicated histories, belonging - and what we hear when we listen to the voices of the past, directed by Tatenda Shamiso (No I.D.).
Supported by the Concord Theatricals Unpublished Playwrights Award.
Blood of my Blood
The Royal Court Theatre - London, UK
1 October - 7 November 2026
PRESS
"Nesbitt leans into that moral murkiness brilliantly, bringing it into the current context of far-right ideology. [...] This play is brilliantly written – intricately woven, if you'll pardon the pun. It's intellectually complex but also operates on a raw emotional level that gets under your skin and stays there. The tonal range is remarkable, moving from genuine tenderness to moments that are legitimately frightening, and the cast navigates these shifts with skill and precision."
Review: STILT at Corrib Theatre
![Boyfriends (2024)
By Ultan Pringle
Lemonsoap Productions at The Project Arts Centre and An Grianán Theatre— Dublin, Ireland
—
Cast:
A – Emmanuel Okoye
B – Ultan Pringle
Team:
Writer – Ultan Pringle
Director – Joy Nesbitt
Assistant Director – Praise Titus
Producer — Lisa Nally
Set Design – Choy-Ping Ní Chléirigh-Ng 吳彩萍
Lighting Design – Owen Clarke
Costume Design – Toni Bailey
Sound Design – HK Ní Shioradáin
—
Situationship [ sich-oo-ey-shuhn-ship ]
Definition: A situationship is a romantic or sexual relationship that is undefined and noncommittal.
Following a three month affair between two anonymous men, Boyfriends, charts the ups and downs and roundabouts of a modern situationship. As they swing through four million one hundred and ninety one thousand possibilities of what they might mean to one another, through time, sex, Madonna songs, nightclubs, period dramas and calorie counting, Boyfriends asks us to ponder on that age old question: what the f*ck is romance anyway?
—
“Boyfriends is one of the best, if not the best, new plays of 2024”⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — The Arts Review
“Showing acute directorial acumen, Nesbitt understands the strength of Pringle’s script lies not in what’s said, smart, funny and incisive as that is, but in what’s being left unsaid.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — The Arts Review
“Worth mentioning too is the fantastic directing of Joy Nesbitt, who likely played a strong role in keeping actor and writer distinct and in making Boyfriends the very powerful performance that it is. Not to be missed.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — Reviews Hub
“Smart, raw, and above all, hilarious.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — The Irish Times
“Funny, Smart and heartfelt”
— Irish Independent](https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t39.30808-6/470072762_17950162868875184_3758080580969337398_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=106&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0FST1VTRUxfSVRFTS5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=u3_REajZA9MQ7kNvwE17I8K&_nc_oc=AdrzzQvI8ORvixFl2nHplwvWSUUIszNwfBWtZEzyo_gQjjP9e_14yMIqXy8LrerMdmE&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=2ktKmQg9xQFREKKy9xTaAw&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQHeTuNsDtcWsFu6I-f-MCjS031hTL-7VHv-U2P6qsb6BOC7aUNx0TeiUcPNZdYDRVN59SsJsHKg&oh=00_Afwciin7s4RtM71JjoPe2DE6WfzOaKNteoqN4AcdI2wLdA&oe=69C20A58)
