Great British Playwrights
Playwright↕ | Years↕ | Signature Play↕ | Style↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Harold Pinter | 1930-2008 | The Homecoming | Comedy of menace | Nobel Prize 2005, the Pinter pause, Betrayal, The Birthday Party, political activism |
Tom Stoppard | 1937- | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead | Intellectual comedy | Arcadia, The Real Thing, Shakespeare in Love screenplay, erudite wordplay |
Alan Bennett | 1934- | The History Boys | Social comedy | Talking Heads monologues, The Madness of George III, Yorkshire voice, diaries |
Caryl Churchill | 1938- | Top Girls | Experimental / feminist | Cloud Nine, Serious Money, overlapping dialogue, short plays, formal innovation |
Peter Shaffer | 1926-2016 | Amadeus | Epic drama | Equus, Royal Hunt of the Sun, psychologically intense historical plays, twin of Anthony Shaffer |
John Osborne | 1929-1994 | Look Back in Anger | Kitchen sink realism | Angry Young Men movement figurehead, The Entertainer, Oscar for Tom Jones screenplay |
Edward Bond | 1934-2024 | Saved | Political rage | Saved stoning scene scandal, Lear, anti-establishment, abolished UK stage censorship |
David Hare | 1947- | Plenty | Political drama | Stuff Happens (Iraq War), Skylight, The Hours screenplay, state-of-the-nation plays |
Michael Frayn | 1933- | Copenhagen | Intellectual comedy / drama | Noises Off (farce masterpiece), Democracy, novelist and translator, physics in drama |
Alan Ayckbourn | 1939- | The Norman Conquests | Comedy | 85+ plays, Scarborough base, technical experiments, A Small Family Business, Absurd Person Singular |
Jez Butterworth | 1969- | Jerusalem | Epic realism | Mojo, The Ferryman, Mark Rylance partnership, rural English mysticism |
Martin McDonagh | 1970- | The Pillowman | Dark comedy | Leenane Trilogy, Three Billboards film, violent Irish humor, In Bruges |
Simon Stephens | 1971- | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time | Contemporary realism | Adaptation of Haddon novel, Punk Rock, Heisenberg, Royal Court associate |
Lucy Prebble | 1981- | Enron | Contemporary drama | ENRON scandal musical-play, The Effect, Succession co-writer |
James Graham | 1982- | This House | Political drama | Ink (Murdoch and Sun), Dear England, Labour whip offices, Brexit: The Uncivil War screenplay |
Laura Wade | 1977- | Posh | Social satire | Bullingdon Club satire, Home I'm Darling, The Riot Club film adaptation |
Lucy Kirkwood | 1984- | Chimerica | Political epic | Tiananmen tank man play, Mosquitoes, The Children, Royal Court regular |
Conor McPherson | 1971- | The Weir | Irish naturalism | Storytelling monologues, Dublin pubs, Girl from the North Country (Dylan musical) |
Enda Walsh | 1967- | Once (book) | Lyrical / experimental | Disco Pigs, Misterman, Once musical book, David Bowie's Lazarus |
Polly Stenham | 1986- | That Face | Contemporary realism | Debut at 19, Tusk Tusk, No Quarter, dysfunctional wealthy families |
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