Modern Drama: Plays of the '80s and '90s

About the Author

Caryl Churchill is an award-winning playwright, whose plays are renowned for their striking influence upon contemporary British theatre practices. Indicative of her enduring impression upon the theatrical landscape, Churchill has won Obie Awards for her widely celebrated plays Cloud 9 (1979), Top Girls (1982), Serious Money (1987) and A Number (2002). Further cementing her reputation as an outstanding playwright, in 2002 Churchill won an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2010 was placed in the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She continues to produce innovative and provocative work, such as Seven Jewish Children - a play for Gaza (2009) and Love and Information (2012), and in January 2016 her latest full-length play, Escaped Alone, opened at the Royal Court Theatre to great acclaim. With an illustrious theatre career that transcends four decades, Caryl Churchill is arguably more than just one of Britain’s most revered female playwrights; she is one of Britain’s most respected and groundbreaking working today. Martin McDonagh is a London-born Irish playwright whose first play The Beauty Queen of Leenane was the 1996 winner of the George Devine Award. It also won the Writer's Guild Award for Best Fringe Play and the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The play was nominated for six Tony awards, of which it won four, and the Laurence Olivier Award. Since then McDonagh has gone on to write multiple smash-hit shows and films and win multiple awards including an Academy Award for Live Action Short Film for Six Shooter (2005), an Oscar nomination, a British Independent Film Award for best screenplay, an Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild Award for Best Film Script and a BAFTA for best original screenplay, all for In Bruges (starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, 2008), and a Laurence Olivier award for Best New Play for The Pillowman (won 2004). Sarah Kane was born in 1971. Her first play, Blasted, was produced at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in 1995. Her second play, Phaedra's Love, was produced at the Gate Theatre in 1996. In April 1998, Cleansed was produced at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs, and in September 1998, Crave was produced by Paines Plough and Bright Ltd at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Her last play, 4.48 Psychosis, premiered at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in June 2000. Her short film, Skin, produced by British Screen/Channel Four, premiered in June 1997. Sarah Kane died in 1999, and is now recognised as one of the most influential voices in modern European theatre. Terry Johnson's work as a playwright includes a version of Edward Ravenscroft's The London Cuckolds, Dead Funny, and Hysteria. He is the recipient of major British theatre awards including Playwright of the Year 1995; Critics' Circle Best New Play 1995; Writers' Guild Best West End Play 1995; Olivier Award Best Comedy 1994; the Meyer-Whitworth Award 1993; and the John Whiting Award 1991. He also won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical for his production of La Cage aux Folles. His play Piano/Forte premiered at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs in 2006 and, most recently, his play Ken premiered at the Hampstead Theatre Downstairs in April 2016.