Winsome Pinnock and the National Theatre
Written by Rianna Simons, Black Plays Archive Coordinator
In spring 2026, the National Theatre staged Winsome Pinnock’s new play, The Authenticator, in the Dorfman theatre, with Rakie Ayola (The Pact), Cherelle Skeete (Alterations), and Sylvestra Le Touzel (The Crown), directed by Miranda Cromwell (Rockets and Blue Lights).
Hailed as the ‘godmother of Black British playwrights’ (Guardian), Winsome Pinnock is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg, and academic. She has written numerous plays for the stage, often centring the lives of Black British women. The Authenticator is the fourth of Pinnock’s plays to be staged at the National Theatre, which includes her play Can You Keep a Secret? written with Half Moon Young People’s Theatre for the National Theatre’s youth theatre programme, Connections. The Authenticator is the first of her plays to have its premiere here. It is also the second time her work will be directed by Miranda Cromwell, who previously directed Rockets and Blue Lights (2021), which transferred from the Royal Exchange, Manchester to the National Theatre following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Winsome Pinnock first began writing for theatre as a part of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young People’s Playwriting Group, where she was mentored by writers Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Wakelam. Theatres and organisations like Half Moon Young People’s Theatre and The Women’s Playhouse Trust were early supporters of Pinnock’s work, helping to produce her plays The Wind of Change (1987) at Half Moon and Leave Taking (1987) at Liverpool Playhouse Studio. In 1994 the National Theatre staged Leave Taking in the Cottesloe (now Dorfman) theatre before touring the production to schools across the UK. As a result, Pinnock became the first Black British woman to have her work produced by the National Theatre.
The Authenticator follows three women – Fenella, Marva, and Abi – as they seek to discover the truth of Harford Hall, a stately family home recently inherited by Fenella. Like Rockets and Blue Lights, which used artwork by JMW Turner to explore the lives of those affected by the trans-atlantic slave trade, the play probes colonial links to the past and the work of historians in uncovering those stories.
Pinnock is among one of the most well-known playwrights in Britain, with Leave Taking now a GCSE set text. Recently, she adapted Malorie Blackman’s Pig Heart Boy for the stage, which toured in 2025.
Playtexts of Winsome Pinnock's work are available to purchase at the National Theatre Bookshop.
