Chris Urch is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

playwright. He trained at the Drama Centre as an actor, before turning to writing plays. His first full-length play ''Land of Our Fathers'', set in a Welsh coalmine on the eve of the 1979 general election, received wide critical acclaim when it opened at

Theatre503 Theatre503, formerly the Latchmere Theatre, is a theatre located at 503 Battersea Park Road in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth, above the Latchmere pub. The venue is known for promoting the work of new writers. History The the ...

in London in 2013.Timeout Top 10 Theatre of 2013
/ref> The play then transferred to the Trafalgar Theatre in the West End, before launching on a national tour. Urch's next major play, ''The Rolling Stone'', deals with the topic of violent homophobia in Uganda. It received its premiere at the

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in 2015 and then transferred to the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. T ...

in London. The play won the

Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is a British competition for playwriting, the largest of its kind in Europe—in 2019 it received 2561 entries. Since its inception in 2005, more than 15,000 scripts have been entered, £304,000 has been awarded ...

in 2013, the Manchester Theatre Award for Best New Play in 2015, and Best New Play at the Off West End Awards 2017. The play opened at the off-broadway Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in New York City in 2019. Urch has also written a number of short plays, including ''You Get Me?'' (Bush Theatre), ''Talent'' (Soho Theatre), ''Skanky'' (Arcola), ''Married to the Game'' (Theatre 503), ''A Girl Like You'' (Latitude Festival) and ''G.L.O.R.Y'' (Canal Café Theatre) Urch was born and grew up in Midsomer Norton in Somerset and became engaged to long term partner actor Jordan Mifsud in 2018. They currently reside in Bath.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urch, Chris English dramatists and playwrights Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Midsomer Norton