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 |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Frequently asked questions
How is the Great British Playwrights list ranked?
The Great British Playwrights list is currently sorted by the source data's default ordering. Community voting is not enabled on this dataset.
How many entries are in this Great British Playwrights dataset?
This dataset contains 20 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
Can I download the Great British Playwrights data?
Yes. The download buttons at the top of the page give you the full 20-row dataset as CSV, JSON, or Excel. Use of the data is permitted under a Creative Commons Attribution license — credit dtbse.com when you republish.
Related Datasets
More in People
Byzantine Emperors
The rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire from Constantinople — Justinian, Basil II, Constantine XI and over a thousand years of Byzantine power.
Famous Mixologists
Dale DeGroff, Audrey Saunders, Sasha Petraske - cocktail royalty who rebuilt the bar.
Nobel Peace Prize Winners
All Nobel Peace Prize laureates and organizations.
History's Greatest Polymaths
Da Vinci, Franklin, Goethe, Ibn Sina - whose Renaissance brain sprawled across the most fields at the highest level?
Legendary Ballerinas
Pavlova, Fonteyn, Plisetskaya, Copeland — who achieved pointe perfection?
Nobel Laureates by Country
Nobel Prize winners organized by country of birth or citizenship.
Famous Astronomers
Notable astronomers throughout history.
Chinese Emperors
From Qin Shi Huang to Puyi — the emperors who built, expanded, and eventually lost the longest continuous monarchy in history.
Japanese Shoguns
The military dictators who ruled feudal Japan in the name of the emperor — Tokugawa, Minamoto, Ashikaga and the real power behind the throne.
Greatest Mathematicians in History
Euler, Gauss, Newton, Ramanujan - whose proofs still astound mathematicians centuries later?
Iconic Interior Designers
Kelly Wearstler, Axel Vervoordt, Philippe Starck - whose taste defines a room?
Renaissance Popes
Borgia vs Medici vs della Rovere - the Vatican's most controversial pontiffs of the Renaissance.