Turn Your Fucking Phones Off, a harrowing yet hopeful theatrical doomscroll about disinformation, was commissioned by Waterside Arts (Sale, Manchester) and created in collaboration with designer and composer Benji Huntrods, after winning the “audience vote” as one of three ideas presented in BABYFLEREINDEERBAG. It premiered at Edinburgh Fringe 2026 at Summerhall (★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian, ★ ★ ★ ★ The Scotsman, ★ ★ ★ ★ The Stage). Its initial run in the 40-seater Former Gents Locker Room quickly sold out, with additional shows put on in the 130-seater Main Hall. It received a slate of accolades, including a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First, a Bragi Award and was shortlisted for The List LGBTQIA+ Award. It is currently touring the UK, with further national and international dates to be announced for 2027.
BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG, a meta “focus group” where the audience feeds back on which of three show ideas Maxwell should run with, was presented at Edinburgh Fringe in 2025 with Summerhall . It sold out its entire run in advance, and received four and five star reviews (★★★★ The Guardian, ★★★★ Scotsman, ★★★★★ Binge Fringe, ★★★★★ To Do List) and became a lightning rod for discourse about the role of Fringe and the financial sustainability of the performing arts and touring models. It went on to tour to London, Adelaide and Sydney.
Her second storytelling show, Nan, Me & Barbara Pravi, exploring care, crisis and the Eurovision song contest, was commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre and supported by Arts Council England. The piece was created collaboratively with an incredible technical and design team, dramaturg Annie Siddons and performance director Len Gwyn. Premiering with Summerhall at Edinburgh Fringe 2023, the show received critical acclaim (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Time Out, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Financial Times, ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Scottish Field, ★ ★ ★ ★ Scotsman), was nominated for the BBC Writers Popcorn Award for New Writing at the Edinburgh Fringe and won the Summerhall Lustrum Award for unforgettable theatre. A minor tabloid media storm was incited by the unexpected attendance of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The playtext was published in 2023 by Polari Press.
Maxwell’s debut show, I, AmDram , about queer identity and growing up amongst amateur musical theatre, was developed through the Starting Blocks Artist Development Programme at Camden People’s Theatre. Supported by Arts Council England, the show premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019 with The Pleasance (★ ★ ★ ★ ★ To Do List, ★ ★ ★ ★ Scotsman, ★ ★ ★ ★ The List), before touring to Adelaide Fringe 2020 (★ ★ ★ ★ ★The Adelaide Show), around the UK (with various Rural Touring Networks, the South East in association with house), and to Germany and Norway, with Menagerie Theatre Company). In 2025, the show returned to Adelaide Fringe for a short run and won a Weekly Best of Theatre Award. The playtext is published by Bloomsbury/Oberon Books and a piece on the show was featured in the Guardian in 2019.
In collaboration with her uncle, playwright and poet Glyn Maxwell, she has designed a storytelling card game called Best Day Ever, illustrated by artist Frances Gibson and available to purchase online. Live gameplay shows with special guests (including Poet Laureate Simon Armitage) were recorded and launched as the Best Day Ever Live podcast.
Maxwell’s other work includes collaboration with international lesbian performance company Split Britches as co-writer of Unexploded Ordnances, a part-performance, part-roundtable discussion on age, hope and ideas of ‘doomsday’, which premiered at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New York in January 2018, with a UK premiere at the Barbican in May 2018.
As an actor, Maxwell appeared in the role of ‘General Lee’ as part of the drag-cabaret spectacular Mulan Rouge by ShayShay Konno at the Vaults Theatre 2021-22, and as understudy ‘Mole’ in Figs in Wigs’ Wind in the Willows Christmas show at Cambridge Junction 2019. She has also appeared in various commercials (television and online), short films, audioguides and other media as both actor and voiceover artist.
As one of her many side-hustles, she is an experienced and sought-after bidwriter and has worked with solo artists, theatre companies and arts organisations on over 200 funding bids in the past 10 years. Check the Grants page for more information.
Maxwell graduated from Queen Mary, University of London in 2014, receiving a 1st class BA Hons in English and Drama, and the Westfield Award. She is a member of the Croydonites Festival Artist Advisory Board. She co-runs Karaoke-Dokey with Rachel Porter at the Karaoke Hole in Dalston. She has different-coloured eyes and lives mostly in London.