Joseph Graham Reid (born 1945) is a British playwright from
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
.
Background
Born into a working-class family in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, Reid left school at age 15, served in the British army, married young,
/ref> but returned to education and graduated from Queen's University of Belfast, Queen's University in 1976. He became a teacher at Gransha Boys' High School in Bangor, County Down
Bangor ( ; ) is a city and seaside resort in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to which it is linke ...
but left in 1980 to concentrate on his writing career. His first play, ''The Death of Humpty Dumpty'' is a story about an innocent man who gets caught in the cross fire of the troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
in Belfast.[Los Angeles Times May 4, 1991](_blank)
/ref>
Characters in his work ''The Hidden Curriculum'' were based on pupils and teachers from the school he taught at. Premiered at the Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre ( ga, Amharclann na Mainistreach), also known as the National Theatre of Ireland ( ga, Amharclann Náisiúnta na hÉireann), in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the country's leading cultural institutions. First opening to the p ...
, Dublin in 1982, after a subsequent production the following year at the Lyric Players Theatre in Belfast, Ulster Television
UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1) is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc an ...
commissioned a screenplay which was broadcast in 1984. His trilogy, colloquially known as the Billy plays, for the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' series, were his breakthrough works. These are ''Too Late to Talk to Billy'' (1982), ''A Matter of Choice for Billy'' (1983) and ''A Coming to Terms for Billy'' (1984). The lead in these television plays is a young
, who had previously worked in Reid's futuristic play ''Easter 2016'', which was screened as part of the BBC's ''Play for Tomorrow'' series. It was while working on the later two Billy plays that Reid met the actress
whom he later married. In 1992 he wrote a screen play for the movie ''
''Remembrance'', perhaps his most popular play, is a story about a Protestant widower and a Catholic widow who meet at their murdered sons' graves and fall in love over the objections of their surviving children. The play has been performed all over the world: 18 months in
.