Vivienne Franzmann worked as a secondary-school teacher in London for twelve years. Mogadishu is her first full-length play.Vivienne Franzmann was a teacher who took up playwriting after winning the Bruntwood Playwriting award in 2008 with her first play, Mogadishu, which also won the 2010 George Devine Award and was first staged at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2011.

Other plays include: The IT (National Theatre Connections festival, 2020); Bodies (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2017); Pests (Royal Court, Royal Exchange Manchester and Clean Break, 2014); and The Witness (Royal Court, 2012).

She has written for Channel 4, BBC 1, Radio 4 and Radio 3. In 2014, she was awarded a BAFTA for her short film for children, Lizard Girl.