Nicholas Verney Wright (born 1940 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

) is a British

dramatist 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 ...

Biography

Nicholas Wright was born in Cape Town, attended Rondebosch Boys' School and from the age of six was a child actor on radio and on the stage. He came to London in 1958 to train as an actor at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...

(LAMDA) and subsequently worked as a floor-assistant in BBC Television and as a runner in film, notably

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

's ''Far From the Madding Crowd''. He started work at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

in 1965 as Casting Director and became, first, an Assistant Director there and then the first Director of the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs, where for several years he presented an innovatory programme of new writing. From 1975 to 1977 he was joint artistic director of the Royal Court and he was subsequently a member of the Royal Court Theatre's Board. He is former literary manager and associate director of the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

, and a former member of the National Theatre Board. In 2015 and 2016 he was the judge of the Yale Drama Series competition for playwrights. His publications include ''99 Plays'', a survey of drama from

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

to the present day, and ''Changing Stages'', co-written with

Richard Eyre Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre (born 28 March 1943) is an English film, theatre, television and opera director. Biography Eyre was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, the son of Richard Galfridus Hastings Giles Eyre and his wife, Minna Ma ...

Theatre work

* 1978 ''Treetops'' (Riverside Studios) (George Devine Award) * 1979 ''The Gorky Brigade'' (Royal Court Theatre) * 1980 ''One Fine Day'' (Riverside Studios) * 1983 ''The Crimes of Vautrin'' (Joint Stock Theatre Company) * 1983 ''The Custom of the Country'' (Royal Shakespeare Company) * 1984 ''The Desert Air'' (Royal Shakespeare Company) * 1988 ''Mrs. Klein'' (i.e.

Melanie Klein Melanie Klein (née Reizes; 30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein suggested tha ...

) (Royal National Theatre, Lucille Lortel Theatre, NY)) * 1993 ''More Tales of the City'' (TV adaptation) (Channel 4) * 1996 ''John Gabriel Borkman'' (adaptation) (Royal National Theatre) * 1998 ''Naked'' (adaptation) (Almeida Theatre and Playhouse Theatre) * 2000 ''Cressida'' (Almeida at the Albery Theatre) * 2001 ''Lulu'' (adaptation) (Almeida Theatre) * 2003 ''

Vincent in Brixton ''Vincent in Brixton'' is a 2002 play by Nicholas Wright. The play premiered at London's National Theatre with Jochum ten Haaf in the title role. It transferred to the Playhouse Theatre and later to Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * ...

'' (Olivier Award, best new play 2003) (Royal National Theatre, Golden Theater NY.) * 2003 ''Three Sisters'' (adaptation) (Royal National Theatre) * 2003 ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follows ...

'', adapted from the trilogy by Philip Pullman (Royal National Theatre) * 2003 ''The Little Prince'' (adapted opera libretto) (BBC Television) * 2006 '' Man on the Moon'' (TV opera libretto with music by

Jonathan Dove Jonathan Dove (born 18 July 1959) is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birmin ...

) (Channel 4) * 2006 ''Thérèse Raquin'' (adaptation) (Chichester Festival Theatre and Royal National Theatre) * 2007 ''The Reporter'' (Royal National Theatre) * 2008 ''He's Talking'' (Royal National Theatre) * 2008 ''The Big Bonanza'', ''Poison'' and ''The Boy with an African Heart'' for '' The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' (TV) (BBC TV, HBO) * 2011 ''Rattigan's Nijinsky'' (Chichester Festival Theatre) * 2011 ''The Last of the Duchess'' adapted from the book by Caroline Blackwood. (Hampstead Theatre) * 2012 ''Travelling Light'' (Royal National Theatre) * 2013 ''A Human Being Died That Night'', adapted from the book by

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (born 15 February 1955) is the Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She graduated from Fort Hare University with a bachelor's degree and an Honours ...

(Hampstead Theatre;

Fugard Theatre The Fugard Theatre, also known as The Fugard, was opened in the District Six area of Cape Town, South Africa in February 2010. The site is currently managed by the District Six Museum Board following the theatre's official closure in March 2021, ...

, Cape Town; Market Theatre, Johannesburg) * 2014 ''Regeneration'', adapted from the novel by

Pat Barker Patricia Mary W. Barker, (née Drake; born 8 May 1943) is an English writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Her work is described as direct, blunt and pl ...

(Northampton Royal and Derngate Theatre and Touring Consortium Theatre Company) * 2017 "The Slaves of Solitude", adapted from the novel by Patrick Hamilton. Hampstead Theatre. His libretto for ''

Marnie ''Marnie'' is an English crime novel, written by Winston Graham and first published in 1961. It has been adapted as a film, a stage play and an opera. Plot ''Marnie'' is about a young woman who makes a living by embezzling her employers' funds, ...

'', an opera by

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...

, based on the novel by

Winston Graham Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE, born Winston Grime (30 June 1908 – 10 July 2003), was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote numerous other works, including contemporary ...

, was produced by the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

, London in 2017 and by the Metropolitan Opera, New York in 2018. He is currently (2016) writing a stage version of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

's ''

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is a 1886 Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between his old ...

'' for Gale King Productions and writing an original play about the last 24 hours in the life of

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

References

External links

* * * * *Nicholas Wright at the Royal Court: http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/about-us/artistic-directors/nicholas-wright *Nicholas Wright on "Mrs. Klein": http://www.connectingconversations.org/?location_id=2&item=277 *Nicholas Wright on "His Dark Materials" https://web.archive.org/web/20140506165616/http://www.stagework.org.uk/webdav/harmonise%40Page/%40id%3D6010%26Section/%40id%3D159.html *Neil Dowden in Exeunt Magazine on "Travelling Light" http://exeuntmagazine.com/features/nicholas-wright/ *Spectator review of "A Human Being Died That Night" http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/theatre/9225251/a-play-whose-value-to-history-it-would-be-hard-to-exaggerate/ *Michael Coveney on Nicholas Wright: http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/05-2014/nicholas-wright-interview-hampstead-theatre-a-human-being-died-that-night_34562.html *Paul Taylor reviews "Regeneration" https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/regeneration-royal-and-derngate-northampton--review-gutting-and-unmissable-9710669.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Nicholas 1940 births Male actors from London Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art British male actors 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights British male screenwriters British theatre directors Living people Writers from Cape Town British male dramatists and playwrights British opera librettists 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights