Leo Butler

Leo Butler
Born	1974 (age 50–51) Sheffield, England
Occupation	Playwright, Screenwriter
Alma mater	Rose Bruford College
Notable works	Redundant (2001) Lucky Dog (2004) Boy (play) (2016)

Leo Butler (born 1974 in Sheffield) is a British playwright. His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Almeida Theatre. ^[1] His plays have been published by Bloomsbury A & C Black. ^[2] His 2001 play Redundant won the George Devine Award. Between 2005 and 2014 he was Playwriting Tutor for the Royal Court Young Writers Programme. ^[3]

Plays

• Made of Stone (2000) premiered as part of the Young Writers' Festival at Royal Court Theatre, directed by Deborah Bruce
• Redundant (2001) premiered at Royal Court Theatre, directed by Dominic Cooke ^[4]
• Devotion (2002) produced by Theatre Centre premiered at Redbridge Drama Centre, directed by Liam Steel ^[5]
• Lucky Dog (2004) premiered at Royal Court Theatre, directed by James Macdonald ^[6]
• The Early Bird (2006) premiered at Queen's Theatre in the Belfast Festival, directed by Rachel O'Riordan ^[7]
• Heroes (2007) premiered by touring with the National Theatre, directed by Samantha Potter ^[8]
• Airbag (2007) a collaboration with Nigerian choreographer Anthony Odey, premiered as a Rough Cut at the Royal Court Theatre ^[9]
• I'll Be The Devil (2008) produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, premiered at Tricycle Theatre, directed by Ramin Gray ^[10]
• Faces in the Crowd (2008) premiered at Royal Court Theatre, directed by Clare Lizzimore ^[11]
• Juicy Fruits (2011) produced by Paines Plough, premiered at Oran Mor, directed by George Perrin ^[12]
• Alison! : A Rock Opera (2012) co-written with Dan Persad premiered at King's Head Theatre, directed by Nick Bagnall ^[13]
• Could You Please Close The Door Please? (2012) premiered at Berlin Schaubuhne as part of the Festival of International Drama. ^[14]
• Sixty-Nine (2012) premiered at The Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, directed by Donnacadh O'Briain ^[15]
• Do It! (2013) premiered at Royal Court Theatre Open Court Season, directed by Ned Bennett. ^[16]
• Boy (2016) premiered at the Almeida Theatre, directed by Sacha Wares ^[17]
• Decades (2016) premiered at the Ovalhouse theatre, produced by the BRIT School, directed by Eva Sampson. ^[18]
• Woyzeck (2018) premiered at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, an adaptation of Georg Buchner's original play, directed by Roxana Silbert. ^[19]
• All You Need is LSD (2018) premiered at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, co-produced with Told by an Idiot theatre company, directed by Paul Hunter and Stephen Harper. ^[20]
• Meet Mo (2020) produced online by Theatre Royal Stratford East, a short musical composed by Leo Butler, directed by Eva Sampson. ^[21]
• Cinderella (2022) produced by Theatre Royal Stratford East book and lyrics by Leo Butler, music and lyrics by Robert Hyman, directed by Eva Sampson. ^[22]
• Innocent Creatures (2023) produced by National Theatre Connections. ^[23]
• Living (2026) produced by Sheffield Theatres, directed by Abigail Graham. ^[24]

Film

• Self Made (2011 feature) co-written with Gillian Wearing, UK Film Council/Northern Film & Media, premiered at the London Film Festival 2011. ^[25]

Television

• Jerusalem the Golden (2002) single drama produced by BBC Four/Fictionlab, directed by Louis Caulfield, starring Rudolph Walker and Eddie Marsan. ^[26]

Books

• Notes From a Working-Class Playwright (2025) Published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama. Award-winning British playwright, Leo Butler looks back over 25 of writing for the stage and his extensive experience teaching and mentoring emerging playwrights through the Royal Court Young Writers' Programme. ^[27]

Music

• Alison! A Rock Opera (2012) a rock opera, written by Leo Butler and Dan Persad. ^[28]
• The Collective Psychosis of the 21st Century (2017) an album of songs written & performed by Leo Butler and Dan Persad ^[29]

Notes

1. http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/butler-leo.html Archived 1 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine Profile at doolee.com
2. "Leo Butler Bloomsbury Author". Leo Butler: Bloomsbury Publishing UK. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
3. "Teach First Acts – Duncan Macmillan & Leo Butler – Matt Trueman".
4. "Redundant", Royal Court Theatre, 2001
5. "Devotion – Shows – Theatre Centre".
6. "Lucky Dog", Royal Court Theatre, 2004
7. "PlayographyIreland – The Early Bird".
8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
9. "Leo Butler". Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
10. "I'll Be The Devil", Tricycle Theatre, 2008, archived from the original on 6 May 2012, retrieved 15 December 2011
11. "Faces in the Crowd", Royal Court Theatre, 2008
12. "Juicy Fruits", Oran Mor, 2011, archived from the original on 15 October 2011
13. "Alison! A Rock Opera", King's Head Theatre, 2012
14. "F.I.N.D Festival 2012" (PDF). Retrieved 26 December 2018.,
15. "Sixty-Nine", Pleasence, Courtyard, 2012
16. "Leo Butler".
17. "Boy". Almeida Theatre. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
18. Vannozzi, Debbie. "Decades by Leo Butler – Ovalhouse".
19. "Woyzeck" . Retrieved 1 April 2018.
20. "All You Need Is LSD".
21. "Meet Mo".
22. "Cinderella".
23. "Innocent Creatures".
24. "Living". 14 March 2026.
25. Self Made, UK Film Council, 2011
26. "DIR 2".
27. {{Cite web/url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/notes-from-a-workingclass-playwright-9781350429468/}}
28. "Alison!: A Rock Opera | in London".
29. "The Collective Psychosis of the 21st Century by Leo Butler & Dan Persad".