Where to begin...

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Matilda Feyiṣayọ (faye • yee • shy • yor) Ibini is a multi-award-winning bionic, Queer playwright, screenwriter and (occasional) facilitator from London... (a Nigerian Londoner if you will).  Matilda has Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and is a wheelchair user. 

Matilda writes for stage, TV, film, audio and books. Their work often centres women, disabled people, Queer people and the Black British experience through a magical realist lens. 

Matilda was awarded a scholarship from BAFTA and Warner Brothers to study a Masters in Playwriting & Screenwriting at City University and gained a Distinction. Their debut play ‘Muscovado’ was produced by BurntOut Theatre, premiered in October 2014 and toured the UK in 2015. Muscovado subsequently co-won the Alfred Fagon Audience Award 2015. They have written audio dramas for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and Audible . 

Matilda's next play, Little Miss Burden, was produced by Harts Theatre Company and the Bunker Theatre. It premiered at the Bunker Theatre in 2019, was a finalist for an OffWestEnd Award for Best New Play, won a Popcorn Finalist Award and is published by Concord Theatricals.  Their last play, Sleepova, premiered at the Bush Theatre for a six-week run. For Sleepova they won the Most Promising Playwright Award at the 2023 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the 2024 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre.

Screen credits (IMDb) include: 

BAFTA TV-Nominated ‘CripTales’ for BBC America & BBC4. 

‘Unprecedented’ Series, Headlong & Century Films for BBC4. 

'Head Over Wheels' a short film produced by Open Sky Theatre & Wrapt Films which won two awards at the 2021 Digital Culture Network Awards. 

‘MO <3 KYRA’, a short film produced by Film4 and 104 Films debuted at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival. 

They co-wrote episode 4 on Amazon Prime’s drama-thriller series ‘Wilderness’ (2023) produced by Firebird Pictures. 

Matilda's work has been staged at the Old Vic Theatre, Shakespeare's Globe, Bush Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, National Theatre Shed, St James Theatre, Royal Exchange Manchester, Soho Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Bunker Theatre, Hackney Showroom and Vaults Festival. 

CV and Access Rider available on request.

Terms you can use to describe me:

✔Bionic writer

✔Disabled writer

✔Black writer/ writer of Nigerian heritage

✔Nigerian-British writer

✔Black, Queer writer

Terms you should NEVER (and I mean NEVER in this life or the next) use to describe me:

🚫Wheelchair bound / Confined to a wheelchair

🚫Special needs / Specially Abled

🚫Persons with a disability

🚫Differently Abled

🚫Handicapped / Handicapable

Why do you describe yourself as 'bionic'?

I adopted the term ‘bionic’ when I became a full-time wheelchair user and had metal implanted into my leg after a traumatic fracture, even though the term encompasses my experiences from birth, that I have always needed some form of technology, equipment, or adaptation to live. However, it doesn't mean all I write about is the disabled experience (but to be fair I do write about it A LOT – and I won’t stop!). What bionic refers to is the fact that I may not always explicitly write about disability, however every story that I tell or collaboration that I’m part of will always be informed by my experiences of being a disabled person in an ableist society.

PUBLICATIONS
Ladybird Stories for Pride (anthology) - Ladybird 2024

Sleepova (full length play) – Concord Theatricals 2023
Joyful, Joyful: Stories Celebrating Black Voices (anthology) – Two Hoots 2022
CripTales: Six Monologues (anthology) – Nick Hern Books 2020
My White Best Friend (And Other Letters Left Unsaid) (anthology) – Bloomsbury  2020
Little Miss Burden (full length play) – Concord Theatricals  2019
Happy Fat by Sofie Hagen (essay) – Fourth Estate  2019
Pocket Plays (anthology) – Bloomsbury  2017

BBC Children's series writers room in 2024 (co-wrote 1 x 30min episode)

Firebird Pictures & Amazon Prime Video in 2021 (co-wrote 1 x 60min episode)

All3Media in 2021 (wrote 1 x 30min episode)

Sky in 2020 (wrote 1 x 30min episode)

Kudos in 2020 (contribute material)

NBCUniversal in 2020 (contribute material)

Tiger Aspect in 2019 (contribute material)

Various Artists Limited in 2018 (contribute material)

Tiger Aspect in 2018 (contribute material)

Inevitable Foundation x Loreen Arbus Elevate Collective Award Grantee 2024

2024 Olivier Awards winner - Sleepova for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre

Most Promising Playwright Award at 2023 Critics' Circle Theatre Awards

Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2023 for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright nominee

Black British Theatre Awards 2023 nominee for Best Playwright

BFI Young Audiences Content Fund 2021 - Development Award with Ardimages UK

The Arts Foundation Futures Award Theatre-Makers Finalist 2021

The Brit List 2020 (feature screenplay)

Screen Daily's Star of Tomorrow 2020

Popcorn Award for New Writing Finalist 2020

Off-West End Awards 2020 finalist for Best New Play (nominee)

Unlimited R&D Award (2019)

BAFTA and Warner Bros Scholarship (2014 - 2016)

Peggy Ramsay Foundation Grant (2016)

Alfred Fagon Audience Award (2015)

Organisations I've run workshops for:

Soho Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Birds of Paradise theatre, Access All Areas, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, CRIPtic Arts, Spread The Word, Young Vic, Stratford East Theatre, Theatre503, Theatre Centre, Graeae Theatre Company, Intermission Youth Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, Talawa Theatre, Secondary schools, Southwark Playhouse, Traverse Theatre, Stockroom Theatre Company, Prime Theatre, Just Add Milk (JAM), Synergy Theatre Project, Director's Cut Theatre Company and Kazzum Arts.

Organisations I've spoken on panels or given talks for:

Touretteshero, New Writing South, Northern Stage, Triple C, Disability Arts Online, City University (now City St George’s, University of London), London Southbank University, London Metropolitan University, University of Greenwich, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Bush Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Soho Theatre, Royal Court Theatre, BFI, Bernie Grants Arts Centre, Wellcome Collection, Southwark Playhouse, BBC Young Reporter, Ovalhouse (now Brixton House), Dot Everyone, Impact Hub Birmingham, Autograph, The JMK Trust, British Council and UNAM (Mexico university), HighTide, Leeds Playhouse, British American Drama Academy, Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Great Britain, BBC Writersroom and Stepping Into Stories Kids' Lit Fest.

BFI Flare x BAFTA programme (2023)

ETT's Nationwide Voices Scheme (2020)

Sphinx Theatre: Sphinx30 Programme (2020)

BFI NETWORK@LFF PROGRAM (2019)

BBC Writersroom Writers’ Access Group - 9 months (2018 – 2019)

Ackley Bridge Shadow Scheme with The Forge/Channel 4 (2018)

National Theatre Studio Attachment (2018)

Channel 4 Screenwriting course (2018)

Soho Writers Alumni Group (2013 – 2018)

Tamasha Playwrights Programme - Year 3 (2016 – 2017)

MA Playwriting and Screenwriting at City University (2014 – 2017) 

NT Studio devising workshops – Rufus Norris (2016)

ThinkBIGGER: Writers’ Cramp Screenwriting Course (2016)

Bryony Kimmings Live Art Workshops (2016)

Criterion New Writing Program – Greg Mosse (2016)

BBC Writersroom 10 Scheme (2014 – 2015)

Soho Theatre’s Young Company (2011 – 2013)

English Literature and Creative Writing BA Hons. (2010 – 2013)

Arcola Theatre’s ‘Voices from the Future’ (2013)

Royal Court Writers Programme – Leo Butler (2012 - 2013)

Hollyoaks Storyline Workshop – Kathleen Beedles (2012)

Eastenders E20 Writer’s School (2011 – 2012)

The Script Factory & Second Light Screenwriters Lab (2011)

Royal Opera House Course – The Singing Word (2011)

Royal Shakespeare Court Poetry Workshop – Aoife Mannix (2011)

20/20 Writers Group Blue Elephant Theatre – Shireen Mula (2011)

BBC Writersroom Seminar - Paul Ashton (2010)

Photo credit: © BAFTA/Jamie Simonds