Abi Morgan interview: 'I'm always running away from something'

Abi Morgan is the great white hope of British screenwriting: from Steve McQueen’s ‘Shame’ to meaty TV drama ‘The Hour’, she’s incredibly in demand and almost always strikes gold. With a new BBC show (‘The River’) and a film starring Carey Mulligan (‘Sufragette’) in the works, what could lure her back to the theatre? A play about the strangest sexual arrangement you’ve ever heard of, is what.

‘The Mistress Contract’ is based on a sexual memoir of the same name – what is it about?
‘It’s by this anonymous couple who have, since the early ’80s, been bound together in a contract that means she provides sexual services whenever he wants and in return he provides her with an income and a home.’

What about their ‘different’ set up made you think there was a play in it?
‘I love how they really interrogate their relationship: she’s very brutal in her analysis of men; he has a great intellectual ferocity. What was particularly fascinating was that this woman considered herself a feminist. She says, “My feminism is thwarted by my desire for you.” The contract is a way of regaining control.’
Have they had any input into your play?
‘They are anonymous and I’ve never met them and never will meet them.’

A sex contract is a pretty weird idea – are you asking us to judge the couple in your play?
‘Audiences will judge, but it’s not about judging, it’s about the necessity of discourse, the idea that keeps us equal is maintaining the discourse, the vigilance between men and women.’

Your next film concerns a different kind of sexual politics. What can you say about it?
‘It starts shooting in two weeks: It’s called “Suffragette” and it’s about a militant group of suffragettes in London in 1912, starring Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter. As far as I know it is the first film about the subject. It just feels very pertinent at the moment; I think social media has reinvigorated people’s enthusiasm to be active and to engage. It’s amazing to think these women were the terrorists of their day.’

Why keep making plays, why not move to Hollywood and live in a big house made of gold?
‘I think I’m always running away from somewhere and to me theatre’s always felt like a good place to run away to. I find it very challenging to go back. I always say writing a play is like toothache: I find it incredibly painful and it’s only once the play’s out that the pain is gone.’