This is a list of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

playwrights.

17th-century British playwrights

18th-century British playwrights

19th-century British playwrights

20th-century British playwrights

See also the more extensive list at

British playwrights since 1950 This is a list of British dramatists who wrote their plays in the 1950s or later. A–G *Michael Abbensetts *Rodney Ackland * Jim Allen *Karim Alrawi *Jeffrey Archer *John Arden *Alan Ayckbourn *Enid Bagnold *John Roman Baker *Howard B ...

. * Jim Allen *

John Arden John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s". Career Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass f ...

* Alan Ayckbourn * John Roman Baker *

Howard Barker Howard Barker (born 28 June 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter and writer of radio drama, painter, poet, and essayist writing predominantly on playwriting and the theatre. The author of an extensive body of dramatic works since the 197 ...

* Peter Barnes *

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

* Tess Berry-Hart *

Robert Bolt Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', ...

* Edward Bond *

John Griffith Bowen John Griffith Bowen (5 November 1924 – 18 April 2019) was a British playwright and novelist. Early life John Bowen was born in Calcutta, India, to Ethel (née Cook) and Hugh Bowen; his father was the manager of the Shalimar Print Works in Goba ...

* Howard Brenton *

Leo Butler Leo Butler (born 1974 in Sheffield) is a British playwright. His plays have been staged, among others, by the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Almeida Theatre. His plays have been published by Bloomsbury A & C Black. His 200 ...

* John Caine *

George Calderon George Leslie Calderon (2 December 1868 – 4 June 1915) was an English writer. He was one of the most knowledgeable Englishmen of his generation about Russian life and literature. Life Calderon was born in St John's Wood, the fifth son of the ...

* Caryl Churchill * Noël Coward *

Martin Crimp Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Aust ...

Tim Crouch Tim Crouch (born 18 March 1964) is a British experimental theatre maker, actor, writer and director. His plays include ''My Arm'', ''An Oak Tree'', ''ENGLAND'', and ''The Author''. These take various forms, but all reject theatrical conventions ...

April De Angelis April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School. De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regimen ...

Keith Dewhurst Keith Dewhurst (born 24 December 1931) is an English playwright and film and television scriptwriter. Life Born in Oldham, Keith Dewhurst was educated at Rydal School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in English in 1953. After wor ...

Nell Dunn Nell Mary Dunn (born 9 June 1936) is an English playwright, screenwriter and author. She is known especially for a volume of short stories, '' Up the Junction'', and a novel, '' Poor Cow''. Early years The second daughter of Sir Philip Dunn an ...

* David Edgar *

Ben Elton Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, actor, author, playwright, lyricist and director. He was a part of London's alternative comedy movement of the 1980s and became a writer on the sitcoms '' The Young Ones'' and ''Bla ...

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...

* John Galsworthy *

Simon Gray Simon James Holliday Gray (21 October 1936 – 7 August 2008) was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years. While teaching at Q ...

* David Greig *

Trevor Griffiths Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish langu ...

* David Hare * Catherine Johnson * Terry Johnson * Sarah Kane *

Sue Lenier Susan Jennifer Lenier (born 9 October 1957) is an English writer. She published two books of poetry and a number of plays. Biography Sue Lenier was born in Birmingham, schooled in Tyneside, and attended Clare College, Cambridge. After graduatin ...

Saunders Lewis Saunders Lewis (born John Saunders Lewis) (15 October 1893 – 1 September 1985) was a Welsh politician, poet, dramatist, Medievalist, and literary critic. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist, supporter of Welsh independence and was a co-founde ...

* Henry Livings *

Frederick Lonsdale Frederick Lonsdale (5 February 1881 – 4 April 1954) was a British playwright known for his librettos to several successful musicals early in the 20th century, including '' King of Cadonia'' (1908), '' The Balkan Princess'' (1910), ''Betty'' ...

* Stephen Lowe * David Mercer * Edgar Middleton *

Raman Mundair Raman Mundair (Punjabi: ਰਮਨ ਮੰਡੈਰ) is a British poet, writer, artist and playwright. She was born in Ludhiana, India and moved to live in the UK at the age of five. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, ''A Choreographer's ...

* Peter Nichols * Onyeka * Joe Orton * John Osborne * Harold Pinter *

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. Career Plater was born in Jarrow, County Durham, although his family ...

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

Peter Quilter Peter Quilter is a West End and Broadway playwright whose plays have been translated into 30 languages and performed in over 40 countries. He is best known for his Broadway play ''End of the Rainbow'', which was adapted for the Oscar-winning f ...

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

David Rudkin James David Rudkin (born 29 June 1936) is an English playwright . Early life Rudkin was born in London. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, he was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Greats at St ...

Willy Russell William Russell (born 23 August 1946) is an English dramatist, lyricist and composer. His best known works are ''Educating Rita'', ''Shirley Valentine'', '' Blood Brothers'' and ''Our Day Out''. Early life Russell was born in Whiston, Lancash ...

* James Saunders * Anthony Shaffer *

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

* R. C. Sherriff *

Dodie Smith Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith (3 May 1896 – 24 November 1990) was an English novelist and playwright. She is best known for writing ''I Capture the Castle'' (1948) and the children's novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1956). Other works ...

* Gladys Bronwyn Stern *

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

David Storey David Malcolm Storey (13 July 1933 – 27 March 2017) was an English playwright, screenwriter, award-winning novelist and a professional rugby league player. He won the Booker Prize in 1976 for his novel ''Saville''. He also won the MacMillan ...

Alfred Sutro Alfred Sutro OBE (7 August 1863 – 11 September 1933) was an English author, dramatist and translator. In addition to a succession of successful plays of his own in the first quarter of the 20th century, Sutro made the first English translation ...

* Herbert Swears * Miles Tredinnick *

Keith Waterhouse Keith Spencer Waterhouse (6 February 1929 – 4 September 2009) was a British novelist and newspaper columnist and the writer of many television series. Biography Keith Waterhouse was born in Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. H ...

Timberlake Wertenbaker Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flints ...

Snoo Wilson Andrew James Wilson (2 August 1948 – 3 July 2013), better known as Snoo Wilson, was an English playwright, screenwriter and director. His early plays such as ''Blow-Job'' (1971) were overtly political, often combining harsh social comment wit ...

* Charles Wood *

Lauri Wylie Lauri Wylie (25 May 1880 – 28 June 1951), originally Maurice Laurence Samuelson Metzenberg, was a British actor and author. He is primarily remembered as the author of the play "Dinner for One", the 1963 screen adaptation of which went on to be ...