Alfred Fagon (25 June 1937 – 29 August 1986) was a British playwright, poet and actor. He was one of the most notable Black British playwrights of the 1970s and 1980s. Fagon worked for British Rail and served in the British Army before he wrote and produced plays at theatres across the UK, including

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

and

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

Biography

Alfred Fagon was born in

Clarendon, Jamaica Clarendon is a parish in Jamaica. It is located on the south of the island, roughly halfway between the island's eastern and western ends. Located in the county of Middlesex, it is bordered by Manchester on the west, Saint Catherine in the eas ...

, into a family of eight brothers and two sisters."Alfred Fagon"
at

Oberon Books Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, act ...

. In 1955 he migrated to England, and worked for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, before in 1958 joining the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

, where he became Middleweight Boxing Champion in 1962, leaving the army the following year. He subsequently lived in Bristol, where he began working as an actor, his first stage appearance being at the Bristol Arts Centre, in the

Henry Livings Henry Livings (20 September 1929 – 20 February 1998) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television and theatre from the 1960s to the 1990s. Early life and career Livings was born in Prestwich ...

play ''The Little Mrs Foster Show'', and in 1970 he starred in

Mustapha Matura Mustapha Matura (17 December 1939 – 29 October 2019) was a Trinidadian playwright living in London. Characterised by critic Michael Billington as "a pioneering black playwright who opened the doors for his successors", Matura was the first Br ...

's play ''Black Pieces'' at the ICA in London. Fagon went on to write and produce plays, including ''11 Josephine House'', ''Death of a Blackman'' and ''Four Hundred Pounds'',and took on many more acting roles, in television, film and radio, as well as in theatre. Fagon died of a heart attack outside his flat in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

on 29 August 1986, aged 49. Police claimed they were unable to identify him and he was given a

pauper's funeral In the United Kingdom, a pauper's funeral was a funeral for a pauper paid for under the Poor Law. This policy addressed the condition of the poor people of Britain, such as those living in the workhouses, where a growing population of the Britis ...

Legacy

There is a statue of Fagon in St Paul's, Bristol, where he lived, on the corner of Ashley Road and Grosvenor Road. The bronze bust was sculpted by David G Mutasa and commissioned by the Friends of Fagon committee, chaired by Paul Stephenson, on the first anniversary of his death in 1987. The location was chosen because Fagon would often say "the heart of St. Paul’s is at the corner of Ashley Road and Grosvenor Road". On 11 June 2020, during a period of protests by the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement, people reported to the

local police Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive funding ...

that the bust was apparently coated with an unknown substance. This followed the removal of the

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

Edward Colston Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament. Colston followed his father in the family business becoming a sea merchant, initially trading in wine ...

during a protest in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

on 7 June 2020. The statue was awarded Grade II listed status by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

in September 2022. In 1996 the

Alfred Fagon Award The Alfred Fagon Award is granted annually for the best new play by a Black British playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the United Kingdom. It was instituted in 1996 and first awarded in 1997, to recognise the work of Black Brit ...

, an annual award for the best new play by a Black British playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the United Kingdom, was founded to commemorate his life and work. Fagon's archives are part of the Theatre and Performance Collections of the V&A.

Plays

*''11 Josephine House'' (1972) *''The Death of a Black Man'' (1975) *''Four Hundred Pounds'' (1982) *''Lonely Cowboy'' (1985)

References

External links

Alfred Fagon, playwright, actor and poet: papers
at

Archives Hub The Archives Hub is a Jisc service, and is freely available to all. It provides a cross-search of descriptions of archives held across the United Kingdom, in over 320 institutions, including universities, colleges, specialist repositories, charit ...

Alfred Fagon
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fagon, Alfred 1937 births 1986 deaths 20th-century British actors British dramatists and playwrights British male writers Migrants from British Jamaica to the United Kingdom Royal Corps of Signals soldiers