Joe is a writer of Anglo-Indian heritage, who grew up in Gloucestershire and Devon, on a diet of Roald Dahl books, Beano comics and Nintendo games. He studied drama at the University of Exeter, where he co-founded Worklight Theatre.
Joe’s solo play – Fanboy – enjoyed a successful run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 followed by a short regional tour and a week at the Soho Theatre. Fanboy will return to The Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe in August 2024 and run alongside Joe’s new show – It’s The Economy, Stupid!
Labels, Joe’s debut solo show won a Scotsman Fringe First in 2015, as well as four other international awards, and has toured extensively in the UK, and abroad. His second solo show, Monster, premiered at Edinburgh in 2017, and has also toured extensively. Both had a limited run at The Wardrobe, Bristol and the VAULT Festival – where Joe’s short, rapid-response piece commissioned for Extinction Rebellion’s ‘Decolonise; Decarbonise’ also played.
In telly, Joe has written extensively for animation, working on episode scripts for series including Pip and Posy, Pip and Posy: Let’s Learn (Magic Light Productions), The Adventures of Paddington (Heyday Films), Lu and the Bally Bunch (Lubird Productions), The Very Small Creatures S3 (Aardman/Sky Kids) and Nikhil & Jay (King Banana/CBeebies).
Joe Sellman-Leava is represented by Frances Arnold