Graham Reid (writer)

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Joseph Graham Reid (born 1945) is a British playwright from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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Background

Born into a working-class family in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Reid left school at age 15, [1] served in the British Army, [2] married young, [1] but returned to education and graduated from Queen's University in 1976. [1] He became a teacher at Gransha Boys' High School in Bangor, County Down but left in 1980 to concentrate on his writing career. [1] His first play, The Death of Humpty Dumpty, is a story about an innocent man who gets caught in the cross fire of The Troubles in Belfast. [1]

Characters in his work The Hidden Curriculum were based on pupils and teachers from the school at which he had taught. It was first performed at Dublin's Abbey Theatre in 1982. After a production the following year at the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast, Ulster Television commissioned a screenplay which was broadcast in 1984. His trilogy, colloquially known as the Billy plays, for the BBC's Play for Today series, were his breakthrough works. These are Too Late to Talk to Billy (1982), A Matter of Choice for Billy (1983) and A Coming to Terms for Billy (1984). The lead in these television plays is a young Kenneth Branagh, who had previously worked in Reid's futuristic play Easter 2016, which was screened as part of the BBC's Play for Tomorrow series. It was while working on the later two Billy plays that Reid met the actress Gwen Taylor whom he later married.[ citation needed ] For BBC2's ScreenPlay series he wrote You, Me & Marley (1992), which won the Michael Powell Award for the best British film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Plays

NameYear first producedWhere first produced
The Death of Humpty Dumpty1979 Abbey Theatre, Dublin
The Closed Door1980Abbey Theatre
Dorothy1980Oscar Theatre, Dublin
Easter 19161982Play for Tomorrow, BBC Television
The Hidden Curriculum1982Abbey Theatre
Too Late to Talk to Billy1982Play for Today, BBC Television
A Matter of Choice for Billy1983Play for Today, BBC Television
A Coming to Terms for Billy1984Play for Today, BBC Television
Remembrance1984 Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Ties Of Blood1985Television
Callers1985Abbey Theatre
You, Me & Marley 1992 ScreenPlay , BBC Television
Lengthening Shadows1995Lyric Theatre, Belfast
Love1995 West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
Life After Life1995BBC Television
Love, Billy2013Lyric Theatre, Belfast

Remembrance, perhaps his most popular play, is a story about a Protestant widower and a Catholic widow who meet at their murdered sons' graves and fall in love over the objections of their surviving children. [1] The play has been performed all over the world: in Tel Aviv (in Hebrew), [1] over eight months at the Irish Arts Center in Manhattan, and at the Old Globe, San Diego. [1] It was performed by the Tara Players of Winnipeg at the first Acting Irish International Theatre Festival in 1994.

Personal life

He has two daughters and a son. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Churnin, Nancy (4 May 1991). "A Tale of Love Emerges From Embattled Ireland: Theater: Playwright Graham Reid goes back to his troubled homeland in 'Remembrance,' making its West Coast premiere today in San Diego". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Answer.com Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
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