Lolita Chakrabarti OBE is an award-winning playwright and actress. She trained at RADA and has been working as an actor on stage and screen for thirty five years.
Her debut play Red Velvet opened at the Tricycle Theatre before transferring to New York and then London’s West End. It earned her the Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright 2012; The Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright 2013; AWA for Arts and Culture 2013; an Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre 2012 and a WhatsOnStage nomination for London Newcomer of the Year & Best New Play 2013.
Chakrabarti’s adaptation of Life of Pi, based on Yann Martel’s novel, premiered at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in 2019. Following critical acclaim, the production transferred to the Wyndham’s Theatre in November 2021 playing for 18 months. It was nominated for 9 Olivier Awards, winning 5 including Best New Play. Chakrabarti also won numerous other accolades including a WhatsOnStage Award, UK Theatre Award and CAMEO Award. Life of Pi opened at ART in Boston in December 2022 and then on Broadway in March 2023. The production has garnered countless nominations in the US including 3 Tony Awards. The production toured the UK and internationally. It is currently on tour in the US and East Asia.
Her adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award winning acclaimed novel Hamnet opened at the RSC in 2023 and transferred to London’s West End, winning the accolade of the highest presales for a show ever at The Garrick Theatre. Hamnet will tour the US in 2026. Her play Hymn, set in London, opened at the Almeida during the pandemic and was live streamed internationally, returning for a live run in summer 2021. In 2025 Hymn had a new production at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre which Lolita rewrote to be set in Chicago.
© Copyright The Agency (London) Ltd. 2025. Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Copyright holder