Roy Williams (playwright)

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Roy Williams

BornRoy Samuel Williams
Fulham, London, England
OccupationPlaywright
Alma mater Rose Bruford College
Notable awards Alfred Fagon Award

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Roy Samuel Williams OBE FRSL is a British playwright.

Contents

Early life

Williams was born in Fulham, London, and brought up in Notting Hill, the youngest of four siblings in a single-parent home, with his mother working as a nurse after his father moved to the United States. Williams decided to work in theatre after being tutored by the writer Don Kinch when he was failing in school and attended some rehearsals in a black theatrical company that Kinch ran. After leaving school at the age of 18, Williams did various jobs, including working in McDonald's and in a props warehouse. In 1992, he took a theatre-writing degree at Rose Bruford College and has worked ever since as a writer. [1]

His first full-length play was The No Boys Cricket Club, which premiered in 1996 at Theatre Royal Stratford East. [2] Williams has done work in television, including adapting his own play Fallout, and also co-wrote the script for the 2012 British film Fast Girls .

Awards

2024 Winner Best adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards for "Bess loves Porgy".


His plays include:

Death Of England:Closing time at the National Theatre in 2023

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References

  1. Miranda Sawyer, "Taking the stage" (interview), The Guardian, 10 February 2008.
  2. Simon Hattenstone, "Roy Williams: Confessions of an uncool kid", The Guardian, 7 June 2010.
  3. Clubland.
  4. Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads. Archived 18 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Fallout. Archived 23 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Baby Girl. Archived 17 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Sucker Punch.
  8. Bush Theatre. Archived 4 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Theatre Centre
  10. Johanna Thomas-Corr, "Playwright Roy Williams: 'The time just seemed right to put the Metropolitan Police in the spotlight'", Evening Standard , 28 October 2014.
  11. Hannah Ellis-Petersen, "Let's put it on: Roy Williams on Soul, his play about Marvin Gaye", The Guardian, 30 November 2015.
  12. "Death of England | National Theatre". www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  13. "Death of England: Delroy | National Theatre". www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  14. "Jermyn Street celebrates 30th anniversary with Roy Williams premiere". The Stage. Retrieved 28 December 2023.