John Arden
John Arden (born 26 October 1930) is an award-winning English playwright from Barnsley (which at the time was in the West Riding of Yorkshire). His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature.
He was educated at Sedbergh School, King's College, Cambridge and Edinburgh College of Art, where he studied architecture. He first gained critical attention for the radio play, The Life of Man in 1956 shortly after finishing his studies.
His 1959 play, Serjeant Musgrave's Dance, dealing with the protestors of war and its realities, is considered Arden's best work. Arden is reputed to be one of the great playwrights of the post-Look Back in Anger era. His work bears the heavy influence of Bertolt Brecht and the Epic Theatre. Other plays include Live Like Pigs, The Workhouse Donkey and Armstrong's Last Goodnight, the last of which was performed at the National Theatre, starring Albert Finney. His 1978 radio play Pearl was considered one of the best plays for that medium in a Guardian survey.[1]
He has also written a number of novels, including Silence Among the Weapons, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and Books of Bale, about the protestant apologist John Bale.
He is notable for a number of highly public fallings-out with the theatre establishment - with his wife and co-writer Margaretta D'Arcy, he picketed the RSC premiere of his Arthurian play The Island of the Mighty; and they have written several plays highly critical of British presence in Ireland, where he now lives, and the Military-Industrial Complex.
He has a long history of being associated with radical left-wing politics in the UK and Ireland. In 1961 he was a founder member of the anti-nuclear Committee of 100 and he also chaired the pacifist weekly, Peace News. In Ireland, he was for a while a member of Sinn Féin. He is also a well-known supporter of civil liberties and is critical of government anti-terror legislation, as was demonstrated in his 2007 radio play The Scam.
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[edit] Awards
- Evening Standard Award, 1960
- John Whiting Award, 1973
- V. S. Pritchett Award, 2003
- Booker Prize shortlist, 1982
- Giles Cooper Award, 1982
[edit] Works
(Selected)
[edit] Books
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1988) Awkward corners: essays, papers, fragments London: Methuen ISBN 9780413403407 http://books.google.com/books?id=b8CxAAAAIAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1991) Plays: 1: The Business of Good Government, The Royal Pardon, The Little Gray Home in the West, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Friday's Hiding, Vandaleur's Folly, and Immediate Rough Theatre Methuen Publishing Limited ISBN 9780413651501 http://books.google.com/books?id=uaoXQwAACAAJ
- D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1996) Galways Pirate Women, a Global Trawl Women's Pirate Press ISBN 9780952820604 http://books.google.com/books?id=0RixAAAACAAJ
[edit] Plays
Plays written in collaboration with Margaretta D'Arcy include:
- The Business of Good Government
- The Happy Haven
- Ars Longa Vita Brevis
- The Royal Pardon
- The Hero Rises Up
- The Ballygombeen Bequest
- The Non-Stop Connolly Show
- Keep the People Moving (BBC Radio);
- Portrait of a Rebel (RTÉ Television);
- The Manchester Enthusiasts (BBC 1984 and RTÉ 1984 under the title The Ralahine Experiment);
- Whose is the Kingdom? (9 part radio play, BBC 1987).
[edit] References
- ^ John Arden's Radio Plays, Retrieved 2009-18-09
