Nick Stafford (born Nicholas Thomas, 1959 in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

) is a British playwright and writer. He is best known for writing the stage adaptation of

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (''né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as ''War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytellin ...

's novel ''

War Horse The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot design ...

'', which garnered him a

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

nomination for Best New Play in 2008, and the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for Best Play in 2011.

Career

Stafford trained at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, and his first professionally produced play was commissioned in 1987 by the Half Moon Young People's Theatre, where Stafford was writer-in-residence. He also got commissions from other small companies, before going to the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...

, also as writer-in-residence. His first play there, ''The Snow Queen'', ran for two years. He has had several plays produced at the National Theatre and at Birmingham Rep. Stafford's

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

of Michael Morpurgo's novel ''

'' was first produced in London in 2007, where it is still running; other productions have been staged on Broadway, and in Toronto, Canada. Five of his plays have been published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

. Stafford also has had several plays produced on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, and has been commissioned to write movies and television drama; none of these bar a BBC short has been filmed. Stafford was a

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

Fellow at

Roehampton University The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

from 2003–06 and at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

from 2007–09. Stafford's first novel, ''Armistice'', was published in 2009.

Works

Plays

*1987–1988 Five plays written for the Half Moon Young People's Theatre when Writer-in-residence. *1989 ''Easy Prey'', first produced by Avon Touring. *1990 ''Back of the Bus'', first produced at the New Perspectives Theatre. *1990 ''The Canal Ghost'', first produced at the

Birmingham Rep Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

Studio. *1991 ''The Hopeful'', first produced at the

, London. *1991 ''The Snow Queen'', first produced at the Young Vic, London. Adapted from the fairy tale by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

*1992 ''Moll Cutpurse'', first produced at

The Drill Hall RADA Studios (formerly The Drill Hall) is a theatrical venue in Chenies Street in Bloomsbury, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road in the West End of London. Owned by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the building contains rehearsal ...

, London. *1992 ''The Devil's Only Sleeping'', first produced at Birmingham Rep. *1993 ''Listen With Da Da'', first produced at the

Serpentine Gallery The Serpentine Galleries are two contemporary art galleries in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Central London. Recently rebranded to just Serpentine, the organisation is split across Serpentine South, previously known as the Serpentine Gallery, ...

*1995 ''The Go-Between'', first produced at the Royal Theatre, Northampton. Adapted from

the novel ''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...

L. P. Hartley Leslie Poles Hartley (30 December 1895 – 13 December 1972) was a British novelist and short story writer. Although his first fiction was published in 1924, his career was slow to take off. His best-known novels are the '' Eustace and Hilda'' ...

. *1995 ''Grab The Dog'', first produced at the National Theatre Studio. *1996 ''That Day at the Beach'', first produced at the National Theatre Studio. *1997 ''Whisper of Angel's Wings'', first produced at Birmingham Rep. *1999 ''Battle Royal'', first produced at the

Lyttelton 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. In ...

at the National Theatre in London. *2001 ''The Chain Play'', first produced at the

Olivier 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. In ...

, also at the National Theatre, London. *2001 ''Luminosity'', first produced at The Pit,

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

, London, by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

. *2004 ''Love Me Tonight'', first produced at

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

, London. *2006 ''Katherine Desouza'', first produced at The Door at Birmingham Rep. *2007 ''

'', first produced at the Olivier Theatre, at the National Theatre, London. Adapted from

Radio plays

All were produced for

. *''The Fire Inside''. *''

Birdsong Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by func ...

'', adapted from the novel by

Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Charles Faulks (born 20 April 1953) is a British novelist, journalist and broadcaster. He is best known for his historical novels set in France – '' The Girl at the Lion d'Or'', ''Birdsong'' and '' Charlotte Gray''. He has also pub ...

. *''A Thousand Acres'', adapted from

Jane Smiley Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel ''A Thousand Acres'' (1991). Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a su ...

. *''A Year and a Day''. *''The List'' Two plays for

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. *''Frankenstein'', adapted from

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...

. *''La Petite Mort''. *''Ring of Roses''. *''A Matter of Sex'' Winner of Sony Award Best Original Script.

Novels

*2009 ''Armistice'' novel.

References

External links

Nick Stafford page at The Agency

Review of ''Armistice'' in ''The Observer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Nick 1959 births Living people English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British novelists Tony Award winners Alumni of Rose Bruford College English male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists 21st-century English male writers