Emma Kelly is a dynamic drama practitioner and dramatist, working across theatre, film, education and immersive storytelling. After teaching performing arts, she now focuses on writing plays, short stories and screenplays. She holds an MA in Dramatic Writing from the Drama Centre at Central Saint Martins (2020) and has since been commissioned both in the UK and internationally, collaborating with companies such as Close Encounters, Circulate, Unzipped Theatre, Rising Tides, Junction Theatre and Slackline Productions.
Her writing has received significant recognition, placing in the top 3% of the BBC Writersroom Drama Open Call 2022 among 4000+ applicants. She has been shortlisted for BBC Voices Southeast, selected for Broken Silence Theatre Writers Hive and the London Playwrights Development Group. Since 2020, Emma has been the resident writer for Close Encounters Theatre in Zurich, creating numerous episodic plays for youth & adult casts of up to 24 performers, including her recent commission Cult (2024). She also wrote the award-winning short film Fast-Firming Wand for Slackline Productions, which won Best Sci-Fi Short at the London Women Film Festival 2025 and Best Plot Twist at the Absurd Film Festival, alongside further festival nominations and official selections.
Wild Elk Productions presented The Tower at The Old Net Loft, Brighton Fishing Museum, from May 9th to 12th and May 16th to 19th. It was shortlisted for the Farnham Maltings Emerging Company Award at Brighton Fringe 2024. Will Toni, a young woman born into a world devastated by climate emergency, find a way to survive, or will the elements and human nature be her downfall? In the not-too-distant future, climate emergency causes catastrophic floods. Leaving the underprivileged high and dry in dilapidated flats. Who or what will Toni find on her epic journey in the flooded world beyond their […]
Emma’s work spans immersive and heritage-based projects, including What If Walls Could Speak, a promenade piece at the Regency Town House, and an XR audio experience for Brighton Dome with Immersive Networks. She founded Wild Elk Productions in 2023 and produced the sell-out sci-fi comedy 2145 at Brighton Fringe 2023. The show won the Michael Graney Bursary from Ironclad Creative, was nominated for an OffFest Award, placed in the top three for the Audience Choice Award and was described by Latest TV as “better than Netflix.” Her 2024 site-specific drama The Tower, staged in the atmospheric Old Net Loft at Brighton Fishing Museum, was shortlisted for the Farnham Maltings Emerging Company Award and praised as “gripping theatre.”
Emma’s practice originates from her BA (Hons) in Theatre and Visual Practice at Brighton University, where she began creating large-scale, immersive and collaborative work. Her early projects included audience-involved experiences such as The Great Escapade (2004) a pyrotechnic, post-apocalyptic journey, and the interactive installation The Lady of the Manor at the Fire Gathering Festival (2006). These playful, genre-bending foundations continue to influence her style.
Known for her dark humour, inventive worlds and bold word building, Emma works across playwriting, screenwriting, audio drama and collaborative devising. Many describe her imagination as both brilliant and bizarre as she continues to evolve as a multi-skilled dramatist with a distinctive voice.