Elizabeth Kuti (born 1969) 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 ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Life

-born Kuti graduated from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

with a degree in English, and completed her MA at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. She is of partial Hungarian descent through her paternal grandfather, whose original surname Kipslinger was adapted to 'Kuti' to disguise its Germanic origins. In 1993 she moved to Ireland to study at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where she wrote her doctoral thesis on eighteenth-century women playwrights. In October 2004, she joined the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies,

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

. In 1999, the company Rough Magic produced her first work for the theatre, the completion of

Frances Sheridan Frances Sheridan (''née'' Chamberlaine) (1724 – 26 September 1766) was an Anglo-Irish novelist and playwright. Life Frances Chamberlaine was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Dr. Phillip Chamberlaine, was an Anglican minister. In 1747 ...

's eighteenth-century comedy ''A Trip to Bath'', retitled as ''The Whisperers''. She has performed with most of Ireland's leading theatre companies including the Abbey and Peacock, Rough Magic, Loose Canon, Bedrock and the Corn Exchange. She performed in ''Car Show''; ''Dublin 1742'', by John Banville; ''Melonfarmer'', by Alex Johnston; ''Still'', by Rosalind Haslett. She directed ''Stone Ghosts'', by Sue Mythen.

Awards

She won the 2006

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

Works

* ''The Lais of Marie de France'', (Andrews Lane Studio, Dublin Fringe Festival, 1995). * ''The Whisperers'' (A Trip To Bath), (1999) * ''The Countrywoman'', (2000) * ''Treehouses'', (2000) * * ''The Six-Days World'', (2007) * ''Eighty Miles'' * ''Funerals in My Brain'', (workshop production at the Man in the Moon Theatre, London), * ''Teen Lurve'', (comedy-drama series for BBC Radio 5) * ''Time Spent On Trains'' * ''Fishskin Trousers'' Nick Hern Books 2013
Premier
at The Finborough Theatre, London, September 2013 )

Reviews

Kuti is indeed a fine writer, and this is a text that repays re-reading. The sugar metaphor - the sweetness that is of often sour, not just to the slaves forced to produce it but to everyone who thereafter touches it - is particularly powerful.

References

External links

''Elizabeth Kuti'', doollee
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuti, Elizabeth 1969 births Living people Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of King's College London Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Academics of the University of Essex British people of Hungarian descent