Ben Weatherill

When a woman teams up with a snake, a storm always follows. A new dark comedy by Ben Weatherill, Motorhome Marilyn follows Denise, an aspiring actress with an obsessive relationship with Marilyn Monroe, who headed to Hollywood in the 1980s, hoping to live up to the icon’s fame and allure. But somewhere along the way, her dreams went dangerously off script. As the ghosts of her past close in, Denise is forced to reckon with fame, fantasy, and the true cost of reinvention. And just what is she hiding in the desert? Inspired by Michelle Collins's real-life encounter with the woman known as Motorhome Marilyn, this twisted and funny play reveals the toll of living in the shadow of an icon - exploring failure, survival, and the heart-breaking cost of unattained dreams. Published to coincide with the world premiere at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 starring Michelle Collins, this unforgettable one-woman play delights and surprises in equal measure.

People cross our paths for a reason. That, no doubt, reads like a horrible cliché but I never claimed to be a good writer, only an honest one. I believe the reason I met you was to become comfortable in my own skin.Ever seen a couple of old boys on a park bench and wondered what they are chatting about? In his new play Ben Weatherill lets us overhear Frank and Percy as they discuss the weather, then their dogs and then each other and so much more. Will the widowed schoolteacher and the elder statesman dare to risk changing their lives or let sleeping dogs lie?Frank and Percy is a poignant and witty take on the unexpected relationship that blossoms between two men. Old friends, three-time Olivier Award winner Roger Allam, and one of our greatest stage and screen actors, Ian McKellen, re-unite for this witty, moving two-hander. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Theatre Royal Windsor, in June 2023.

What about people who can’t make friends? Or who don’t laugh and are full of no love? They’re the real disabilities. I think.Agnes and her daughter Kelly have walked the same stretch of Skegness beach every day for 15 years. They devour ice cream, hunt for crabs and watch as things mysteriously vanish along the shoreline. But when Kelly meets Neil, their cosy world soon begins to unravel.With her mum struggling to understand the needs of a maturing daughter with Down Syndrome, Kelly and Neil have to fight for their right to be together. While Agnes and Kelly drift further and further apart, an event is coming that will change all of their lives forever.Jellyfish is the story of a first kiss, chips by the beach and coming of age in modern Britain. It’s a unique romance across uncharted waters which asks: does everyone really have the right to love as they choose?

Oh this ain’t a farm. This is a loading dock. No such things as farms anymore, not around here.A chicken farm in rural England. New boy Tim has just arrived for his first shift. The job is pretty simple: grab chickens seven at a time by their legs and ram them into cages for shipping. All of this in the dark, stomping around in ankle-deep chicken shit, muck and mud. Tim's teammates are old-timers, with cigarettes dangling from their lips and pantyhose up their arms to protect their skin. Feathers cling to clothes. This band of survivors doesn't want much: just to stay in the countryside, catch the chickens, and earn the best living they can.But the chickens are dying, rotting from the inside-out like hot fruit just hours after they arrive. As disease spreads and pressure mounts, enter Oscar, the meticulous poultry inspector . . .A hard-hitting exploration of the human cost of our enormous appetite for cheap meat.Winner of the Curve Leicester's Playwriting Competition and first seen as a staged reading at the Finborough Theatre's annual Vibrant: A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, Chicken Dust marks the full-length debut of a new playwright. It received its world premiere at the Finborough Theatre on 1 March 2015.