2017 Mike Kenny (born in the Welsh borders, with a Welsh mother) is one of England’s leading writers specialising in young people’s theatre. He was included in the

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

’s list of Top Ten Living Playwrights and his plays are performed regularly throughout the UK and all over the world. In 2000, he was

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

’s first recipient of The Children’s Award for Playwriting for Children and Young People. His Olivier Award-winning adaptation of ''The Railway Children'' for York Theatre Royal, has had several successful revivals at Waterloo and Kings Cross stations, as well as at the National Railway Museum. The first production, directed by

Damian Cruden Damian Cruden was the former artistic director of York Theatre Royal and artistic director designate of the now failed Shakespeare's Rose Theatres. He icurrently Artistic Directorof Alnwick Playhouse. Career Cruden trained at the Royal Scottish ...

, starred

Sarah Quintrell Sarah Elizabeth Quintrell (born in Lambeth, London) is an English writer and actress, best known for writing multi-award winning single drama ''Ellen'' (Channel 4, 2016) and the five part crime drama ''The Trial: A Murder In The Family'' (Channel ...

Colin Tarrant Colin Tarrant (14 June 1952 – 26 January 2012) was an English actor best known for playing Inspector Andrew Monroe in ITV's ''The Bill'' between 1990 and 2002. Early life and career Tarrant was born in 1952 in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, and stud ...

Marshall Lancaster Marshall Lancaster (born 5 October 1974) is an English former actor. He has appeared in television dramas including '' Coronation Street'', '' Holby City'', '' The Lakes'' and ''Family Affairs''. He is best known for playing DC Chris Skelton in ...

, Elizabeth Keates,

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian, actor and satirist. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is th ...

and featured a working Stirling Single (GNR 4-2-2 No.1) steam locomotive on a real rail track. In Canada, it won the People’s Choice Award following its record-breaking run in Toronto. Mike also won the 201
Writers Guild
Award for Best Play for Younger Audiences with ''Three Wise Monkeys'' and the Deutscher Kindertheaterpreis in 2012 with ''Electric Darkness''. In July 2013, Mike was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

by the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

for his work in theatre for young people. He is married to actress

Barbara Marten Barbara Marten (born 3 January 1947) is a British actress. She is most known for playing Eve Montgomery in ''Casualty''. She has appeared in various soaps, including Eastenders and Brookside, as well as many other drama serials such as ''Harry' ...

, they have three sons, Theo, Josh and Billy. She met him in the 1980s, while acting in a student pantomime in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, when they were studying to become a teachers.

References

External links

*Play list at Doollee http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsK/kenny-mike.php
Olivier Awards
Living people British dramatists and playwrights British male dramatists and playwrights Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-playwright-stub