Nick Payne

One relationship. Infinite possibilities. 'Let's go for a drink. I don't know what I'm doing here anyway. One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again'. Nick Payne's Constellations is a play about free will and friendship; it's about quantum multiverse theory, love and honey. Constellations is premiered at the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in January 2012.

Constellations

Fifteen-year-old Anna is bullied by her classmates for being overweight. Her mother, Fiona, decides to transfer her to the school where she teaches, but that only makes things worse. Anna's father, George, is no help—he's too obsessed with saving the world. Just as Anna gets suspended for head-butting one of her tormenters, her uncle Terry arrives for an unannounced visit. A heartbroken, filthy-mouthed slacker, Terry reaches out to Anna in a way that no one ever has. Their unexpected friendship sends her parents' rocky marriage into a tailspin as the whole family wonders what—or who—really needs saving. Nick Payne's If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet is a brilliantly sad, humorous, and empathetic play about a family stuck somewhere between knowing what the problem is and doing something about it.

A Play

If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet

No it was ordinary, it was all ordinary, the whole morning was ordinary. We had breakfast and we said goodbye. A teenage boy goes missing. Time fractures. His mother will never give up hope. Nick Payne's startling portrait of faith, grief and family opened at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in October 2025.

The Unbelievers

What if every neuron in the human brain could be mapped and decoded? Every act of human behaviour catalogued and wholly understood? Elegy imagines a very-near future in which radical and unprecedented advances in medical science mean that it's possible to augment and extend life. Through the beautiful and moving story of three women who've made the choice between love and survival, Elegy explores a world in which the brain is no longer a mystery to us. But at what cost? Nick Payne's Elegy premieres at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in April 2016.

Elegy

Had an accident at work? Tripped on a paving slab? Cut yourself shaving? You could be entitled to compensation. Andrew and Barry at Scorpion Claims, Luton's finest personal injury lawyers, are the men for you. When Kevin, Andrew's high school nemesis, appears in his office the opportunity for a quick win arises. But just how fast does a lie have to spin before it gets out of control? Nick Payne's The Same Deep Water As Me premiered at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in August 2013.

The Same Deep Water As Me

Sex isn't just about how big and how long. What is it about then? All sorts of things. Nick Payne's frank and compassionate play explores sex and intimacy - and asks whether the two are inevitably and inextricably linked. 'Wanderlust' premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in September 2010

Wanderlust

The brain builds a narrative to steady us from moment to moment, but it is absolutely an illusion. There is no me, there is no you, and there is certainly no self. Princeton, New Jersey. 1955. Thomas Stoltz Harvey performs the autopsy on Albert Einstein - and then steals his brain. Bath, England. 1953. Henry undergoes pioneering brain surgery. The surgery changes Henry's life, and the history of neuroscience. London, England. The Present. Martha is a clinical neuropsychologist. When her marriage breaks down she starts to make radically different choices. Three interwoven stories exploring the nature of identity and how we are defined by what we remember, Incognito is an exhilarating exploration of what it means to be human. Nick Payne's Incognito premiered at Live Theatre, Newcastle, in April 2014 in a co-production with nabokov and HighTide Festival Theatre.

Nick Payne

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