British playwright and television writer
James Graham
OBE
FRSL
is a British playwright and screenwriter. His work has been staged throughout the UK and internationally, at theatres including the
Bush
,
Soho Theatre
,
Clwyd Theatr Cymru
, and the
National Theatre
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
James Graham grew up in
Mansfield, Nottinghamshire
,
[1]
and was educated at
Ashfield Comprehensive School
and the
University of Hull
, where he studied drama.
[
citation needed
]
Career
[
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]
Graham's first professional play,
Albert's Boy
, was produced by the
Finborough Theatre
in west London, where Graham became playwright-in-residence. His first major play
This House
was commissioned by the
Royal National Theatre
, where it was critically and commercially acclaimed, transferred to the larger Olivier Theatre, and was nominated for the
Olivier Award
for Best New Play.
This House
was revived in 2016 and ran for two years, first in the West End and then on a national tour.
[
citation needed
]
He wrote the book for the Broadway musical
Finding Neverland
, and two of his own plays,
Privacy
and
Ink
(for which he received his first
Tony Award
nomination), transferred to Broadway.
[
citation needed
]
Graham's debut feature film
X+Y
premiered in 2015. He has written numerous TV dramas, including the TV films
Coalition
(which won the
Royal Television Society
award for Best Single Film) and
Brexit: The Uncivil War
(nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie
). In 2019 Graham wrote and executive produced a three-part
TV adaptation
of his stage play
Quiz
which aired in 2020.
[2]
In 2022, it was announced that Graham had written the book for a new musical about the life of televangelist
Tammy Faye Messner
, with
Elton John
and
Jake Shears
writing the music.
Tammy Faye
opened at the
Almeida Theatre
in October 2022, and was nominated for four
Olivier Awards
, winning two.
[3]
Tammy Faye will transfer to Broadway in October 2024.
[4]
In 2023 he wrote
Dear England
for the National Theatre, starring
Joseph Fiennes
, a portrait of England footballer and team manager
Gareth Southgate
.
[5]
Dear England transferred to the West End, and in 2024, the BBC announced they had commissioned Graham to adapt the play into a TV drama series.
[6]
His plays are published by
Methuen
.
[7]
Recognition and honours
[
edit
]
In 2018 Graham won his first Olivier Award, for
Labour of Love
as Best New Comedy (his other play
Ink
was nominated for an Olivier in the same year).
[8]
He won his second Olivier Award in 2024, for
Dear England
, as Best Play.
[9]
In June 2018, Graham was elected Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
in its "40 Under 40" initiative.
[10]
In January 2019, Graham's life and work was the subject of an in-depth
BBC One
documentary as part of the
Imagine
series.
[11]
In May 2019, his play
This House
was voted Play of the Decade in
Bloomsbury Publishing
's '60 Years of Modern Plays' public vote.
[12]
He was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in the
2020 New Year Honours
for services to drama and young people in British theatre.
[13]
Work
[
edit
]
Plays
[
edit
]
- Albert's Boy
(2005) (premiered at the Finborough Theatre)
[14]
- Eden's Empire
(2006) (premiered at the Finborough Theatre)
[15]
- Little Madam
(2007) (premiered at the Finborough Theatre)
[16]
- Sons of York
(2008) (premiered at the Finborough Theatre)
[17]
- Tory Boyz
(2008) (premiered at the
Soho Theatre
)
- SuddenLossOfDignity.Com
(2009) written in collaboration with
Zawe Ashton
,
Joel Horwood
,
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm
and
Michelle Terry
(premiered at the Bush Theatre)
[18]
- A History of Falling Things
(2009) (premiered at the
Clwyd Theatr Cymru
)
- The Whisky Taster
(2010) (premiered at the Bush Theatre)
[19]
- The Man
(2010) (premiered at the
Finborough Theatre
)
[20]
- Relish
(2010) (premiered at the Tramshed in Shoreditch)
- Basset
(2010) (National Theatre Connections play)
- Sixty Six Books
(co-author) (2011) (premiered at the
Bush Theatre
)
[21]
- This House
(2012) (premiered at the
National Theatre
before a national tour)
[22]
- Privacy
(2014) (premiered at the Donmar Warehouse before transferring to Off-Broadway)
[23]
- The Angry Brigade
(2014) (premiered at Theatre Royal, Plymouth)
[24]
- Finding Neverland
(2014) (premiered at the
A.R.T.
)
[25]
- The Children's Monologues
(2015) (wrote the monologue "Biyonace" for the one-off event at the
Royal Court Theatre
)
- The Vote
(2015) (premiered at the
Donmar Warehouse
)
[26]
- Monster Raving Loony
(2016) (premiered at the
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
)
[27]
- Ink
(2017) (premiered at the
Almeida Theatre
before transferring to the West End and then Broadway)
[28]
- Labour of Love
(2017) (premiered at the
Noel Coward Theatre
)
[29]
- Quiz
(2017) (premiered at the
Minerva Theatre, Chichester
before transferring to the West End)
[30]
- The Culture
(2017) (premiered at the
Hull Truck Theatre
)
[31]
- Sketching
(2018) (premiered at
Wilton's Music Hall
)
[32]
- Bubble
(2020) (premiered at the
Nottingham Playhouse
and was live-streamed online)
- Best of Enemies
(2021) (premiered at the
Young Vic
before transferring to the West End)
- Shoot
(2021) (short play written for
Sky Arts
"Play in a Day', performed live at
Alexandra Palace
and later broadcast on Sky Arts)
- Tammy Faye
(2022) (musical about the life of
Tammy Faye Messner
, co-written with
Elton John
, premiered at the
Almeida Theatre
)
- Town Planning in the Apocalypse
(2023) (short play written for the
National Youth Theatre
, performed in February 2023 as part of an all-night showcase of NYT students at the
Duke of York's Theatre
)
- Dear England
(2023) (premiered at the National Theatre)
[33]
- Boys from the Blackstuff
(2023) (adapted from the Alan Bleasdale TV Series, premiered at the Royal Court, Liverpool)
[34]
|
Screenwriting
[
edit
]
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Chakelian, Anoosh (28 January 2013).
"Ayes to the playwright: James Graham interview"
. Total Politics. Archived from
the original
on 13 April 2016
. Retrieved
28 March
2014
.
- ^
Littleton, Cynthia (16 August 2010).
"ITV and AMC Order 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' Cheating Drama 'Quiz'
"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
16 August
2019
.
- ^
Sherwood, Harriet (23 August 2022).
"Musical Tammy Faye tells gay icon's life story with score by Elton John"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"
'Tammy Faye' Heads to Broadway! Elton John and Jake Shears' Divine Musical to Debut This Fall"
.
People.com
. Retrieved
22 March
2024
.
- ^
"Dear England | National Theatre"
.
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
. Retrieved
11 May
2023
.
- ^
"BBC announces Dear England, a new drama based on James Graham's hit play about Gareth Southgate"
.
BBC.com
. Retrieved
30 March
2024
.
- ^
Bloomsbury.com.
"Bloomsbury - Search"
. Retrieved
9 February
2017
.
- ^
Masso, Giverny (9 April 2018).
"Olivier Awards 2018: Political theatre is making a comeback, says James Graham"
.
The Stage
.
- ^
"2024 Olivier Awards: Full list of winners"
.
London Theatre.co.uk
. 14 April 2024.
- ^
Flood, Alison (28 June 2018).
"Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
3 July
2018
.
- ^
"BBC One - imagine..., 2019, James Graham: In the Room Where It Happens"
.
- ^
"This House 60 Years of Modern Plays"
.
Bloomsbury
. Retrieved
1 July
2019
.
- ^
"No. 62866"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N12.
- ^
"Alberts Boy - 2005 - Finborough Theatre"
.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
.
- ^
"Eden's Empire"
.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
. Finborough Theatre.
- ^
"Little Madam"
.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
. Finborough Theatre.
- ^
"Finborough Theatre"
.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
.
- ^
Bushtheatre.co.uk
Archived
11 September 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"The Whisky Taster"
, Bushtheatre.co.uk
Archived
24 April 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Finborough Theatre"
.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
.
- ^
"Curtis Brown"
.
www.curtisbrown.co.uk
.
- ^
"This House on Tour - in the UK from February to June 2018"
.
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
. 20 April 2016.
- ^
Spencer, Charles (22 April 2014).
"Privacy, Donmar Warehouse, review"
– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^
"The Angry Brigade, Theatre Royal, Plymouth - Kate Maltby"
. 26 September 2014.
- ^
Shao, Yiqing (11 July 2014).
"Writer James Graham Talks New Musical
Finding Neverland
"
.
Boston Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on 17 February 2016
. Retrieved
30 October
2015
.
- ^
Mountford, Fiona (7 March 2015).
"James Graham interview: meet the writer bringing drama to this year's election race"
.
independent.co.uk
.
The Independent
. Retrieved
20 May
2015
.
- ^
"Monster Raving Loony ? The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth"
. Archived from
the original
on 1 March 2016
. Retrieved
30 December
2022
.
- ^
Kenny, Fred.
"Spring 2017 Season - Spring 2017 - What's on & Tickets - Almeida - About Us"
.
almeida.co.uk
.
- ^
"Labour of Love, a new comedy by James Graham"
.
Labour of Love
. Archived from
the original
on 2 June 2017
. Retrieved
10 June
2017
.
- ^
Supercool (20 August 2017).
"Quiz | Chichester Festival Theatre"
.
Chichester Festival Theatre
. Archived from
the original
on 21 August 2017
. Retrieved
21 August
2017
.
- ^
"Hull Truck Theatre"
. Retrieved
9 February
2018
.
- ^
"Wilton's Music Hall | James Graham's Sketching"
. Retrieved
3 October
2018
.
- ^
"Gareth Southgate play starring Joseph Fiennes to hit National Theatre"
.
BBC News
. 21 February 2023
. Retrieved
21 February
2023
.
- ^
"Boys from the Blackstuff review ? powerful portrayals of working-class pride".
The Guardian
. 31 May 2024.
- ^
Goldbart, Max (16 February 2023).
"James Graham, Michael Sheen & Adam Curtis Combine On Dystopian Drama 'The Way' For The BBC"
. Deadline.
External links
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International
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National
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Other
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