Roy Williams (playwright)
{{Short description|English playwright (born 1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Roy Williams
| honorific_suffix = {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100|OBE|FRSL}}
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_name = Roy Samuel Williams
| birth_place = Fulham, London, England
| occupation = Playwright
| alma_mater = Rose Bruford College
| period =
| awards = Alfred Fagon Award
Windham-Campbell Literature Prize
| website =
| portaldisp = y
}}
Roy Samuel Williams {{postnom|country=GBR|OBE|FRSL}} (born 1968){{cite news|first=Miranda|last=Sawyer|author-link=Miranda Sawyer|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/feb/10/theatre1 |title=Taking the stage|newspaper=The Observer|date= 10 February 2008}} is a British playwright.
Early life
Williams was born in 1968 in Fulham, London, and was 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.
His first full-length play was The No Boys Cricket Club, which premiered in 1996 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.{{cite news|first=Simon|last=Hattenstone|author-link=Simon Hattenstone|title=Roy Williams: Confessions of an uncool kid|newspaper=The Guardian|date=7 June 2010}} Williams has done work in television, including adapting his own play Fallout, and he also co-wrote the script for the 2012 British film Fast Girls.
Accolades and works
- 1996: Writers Guild of Great Britain award nomination for Best new writer of the year. For The No Boys Cricket Club.
- 1997: First recipient of the Alfred Fagon Award for Starstruck.
- 1999: Winner of The Joh Whiting Award for most promising playwright for Starstruck.
- 1999: Winner of the Emma Award for best theatre play, for Starstruck.
- 2000: Joint winner of the George Devine Award for most promising playwright for Lift Off.
- 2001: Winner of The Most Promising playwright Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Clubland
- 2002: Winner of the BAFTA award for best schools drama Offside.
- 2003: Best play nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre awards for Fallout.
- 2003: Winner of the Arts Council Decibel Award at the South Bank Awards for Fallout.
- 2005: Best play for young people nomination for Little Sweet Thing for the UK theatre Awards.
- 2008. Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty The Queen for services to drama.
- 2009: Winner at the Screen Nation awards for achievement in screenwriting for Fallout.
- 2010: Best play nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre awards for Sucker Punch.
- 2010: Joint winner of the Alfred Fagon Award for Sucker Punch.
- 2011: Best play nomination art The Olivier awards for Sucker Punch.
- 2011: Winner of The Best Play at the Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards for Sucker Punch.
- 2019: Winner of Diversity in Drama TV production for Soon Gone, Windrush Chronicle.
- 2019: Winner of Content Innovation for Best Short firm series Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle.
- 2020: Best Short form drama BAFTA TV Awards nomination for Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle.
- 2020: Best new play nomination at the BBC radio drama Awards for The Likes of Us.
- 2020: Royal Television Society (RTS) nomination for Best writer for Soon Goon: A Windrush Chronicle.
- 2022: Winner of Best Play/musical for Death Of England: Delroy at the Visionary Honours awards.
- 2022: Best Single drama nomination at RTS Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face.
- 2022: Best Single drama nomination at the BAFTA Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face.
- 2023: Best Single drama nomination at the Broadcast Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face.
- 2024: Winner Best adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards for Bess loves Porgy.
- 2025: Winner of a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in the drama category.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/24/novelist-anne-enright-wins-an-175k-windham-campbell-prize|title=Novelist Anne Enright wins a $175k Windham-Campbell prize|first=Ella|last=Creamer|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 March 2025|access-date=6 April 2025}}
His plays include:
- No Boys Cricket Club (1996), Theatre Royal Stratford East
- Starstruck (1998)
- Lift Off (1999)
- Local Boy (2000)
- The Gift (2000)
- Souls (2000)Published in Theatre Centre- Plays for Young People (2003, Aurora Metro Books)
- Clubland (2001), Royal Court Theatre Upstairs[http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/clubland Clubland.]
- Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (2002), National Theatre[http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/7781/productions/sing-yer-heart-out-for-the-lads.html Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads] National Theatre. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918034603/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/7781/productions/sing-yer-heart-out-for-the-lads.html |date=18 September 2009 }}
- Fallout (2003), Royal Court Theatre downstairs[http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/fallout-2003 Fallout], Royal Court. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223145234/http://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/fallout-2003 |date=23 December 2010 }}
- Joe Guy (2007)
- Days of Significance (2007)
- Baby Girl (2007), National Theatre, part of the Connections season[http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/24434/productions/baby-girl.html Baby Girl], National Theatre. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617075222/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/24434/productions/baby-girl.html |date=17 June 2011 }}
- Sucker Punch (2010), Royal Court Theatre downstairs[http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/sucker-punch Sucker Punch], Royal Court
- A contribution to Sixty-Six Books (multi-authored piece) (2011), Bush Theatre[http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/ Bush Theatre.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704090950/http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/ |date=4 July 2011 }}
- The Interrogation (2012– ), BBC Radio 4
- Advice for the Young at Heart (2013), Theatre Centre[http://www.theatre-centre.co.uk/shows/2013/advice-for-the-young-at-heart/ Theatre Centre]
- Kingston 14, Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2014.
- Wildefire, Hampstead Theatre (2014){{cite news|first=Johanna |last=Thomas-Corr|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/playwright-roy-williams-the-time-just-seemed-right-to-put-the-metropolitan-police-in-the-spotlight-9822751.html |title=Playwright Roy Williams: 'The time just seemed right to put the Metropolitan Police in the spotlight'|newspaper=Evening Standard|date= 28 October 2014}}
- Soul, Royal & Derngate / Hackney Empire (2016){{cite news|first=Hannah |last=Ellis-Petersen|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/nov/30/roy-williams-play-marvin-gaye-soul-royal-derngate |title=Let's put it on: Roy Williams on Soul, his play about Marvin Gaye|newspaper=The Guardian|date= 30 November 2015}}
- The Firm, Hampstead Theatre, 2017, returning for a second run in 2019.
- Death of England, with Clint Dyer (2020){{Cite web|title=Death of England {{!}} National Theatre|url=https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/death-of-england|access-date=2020-10-27|website=www.nationaltheatre.org.uk|date=9 September 2019 }}
- Death of England: Delroy, with Clint Dyer (2020){{Cite web|title=Death of England: Delroy {{!}} National Theatre|url=https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/death-of-england-delroy|access-date=2020-10-27|website=www.nationaltheatre.org.uk|date=4 September 2020 }}
- Faith Hope & Glory (2020–) BBC Radio 4
- Out West (Go Girl), Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 2021
- NW Trilogy (Life Of Riley), Kiln Theatre, 2021
- The Fellowship, Hampstead Theatre, 2022
- Unexpected Twist (based on the children's novel by Michael Rosen) opens at the Royal & Derngate Theatre Northampton, followed by four-month UK theatre tour in 2023.
- Death of England: Closing Time, National Theatre, 2023{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/death-of-england-closing-time/|title=Death of England: Closing Time {{!}} National Theatre|website=www.nationaltheatre.org.uk|access-date=6 April 2025}}
- The Lonely Londoners (based on the novel of the same name by Sam Selvon), Jermyn Street Theatre, 2024.{{Cite web |title=Jermyn Street celebrates 30th anniversary with Roy Williams premiere |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/jermyn-street-celebrates-30th-anniversary-with-roy-williams-premiere|date=2 November 2023|first=Georgia |last=Luckhurst |access-date=2023-12-28 |website=The Stage |language=En}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{John Whiting Award}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century English male writers
Category:21st-century English dramatists and playwrights
Category:Alumni of Rose Bruford College
Category:Black British writers
Category:English male dramatists and playwrights
Category:English people of Ghanaian descent
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People from Notting Hill
Category:Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Category:Writers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea