Howard Brenton
Encyclopedia
Early years
Brenton was born in PortsmouthPortsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian (Lewis). He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys
Chichester High School For Boys
Chichester High School for Boys, often referred to as CHSB, is a community school, with specialist status of Business and Enterprise College, for boys aged 11 to 18 located in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England...
and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St. Catharine’s College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473, the college is often referred to informally by the nickname "Catz".-History:...
. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal
Chancellor's Gold Medal
The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh during his time as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge...
for Poetry. While at Cambridge he wrote a play, Ladder of Fools performed at the ADC Theatre
ADC Theatre
The ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, England and also a department of the University of Cambridge. It is located in Park Street, north off Jesus Lane. The theatre is owned by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club , but is currently run as the smallest department of the university,...
as a double bill with "Hello-Goodbye Sebastian" by John Grillo
John Grillo
John Grillo is a British actor and playwright who has appeared in many film and television productions....
, April 1965, and at the Oxford Playhouse in June of that year. It was described as "Actable, gripping, murky and moody: how often can you say that of the average new play tried out in London, let alone of an undergraduate's work..." by Eric Shorter of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. His one-act play, It's My Criminal, was performed at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
(1966).
Career
In 1968 he joined the Brighton Combination as a writer and actor, and in 1969 joined Portable TheatrePortable Theatre Company
The Portable Theatre Company were a group of thespians in the late '60s and early '70s who meant to open the eyes of the British people to what was wrong in their contemporary world.-Origins:...
(founded by David Hare
David Hare (dramatist)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
and Tony Bicat), for whom he wrote Christie in Love
Christie in Love
Christie in Love is an early play by Howard Brenton concerning the life of serial killer John Christie, who murdered at least six women between 1943 and 1953, when he was caught, tried and hanged.-Stage history:...
, staged in the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs (1969) and Fruit (1970). He is also the author of Winter, Daddykins (1966), Revenge for the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs and the triple-bill Heads, Gum & Goo and The Education of Skinny Spew (1969). These were followed by Wesley (1970); Scott of the Antarctic and A Sky-blue Life (1971); Hitler Dances, How Beautiful With Badges, and an adaptation of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
(1972).
In 1973 Brenton and David Hare were jointly commissioned by Richard Eyre
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
to write a 'big' play for Nottingham Playhouse
Nottingham Playhouse
The Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
. "The result was Brassneck, which offered an exhiliratingly panoramic satire on England from 1945 to the present, depicting the meteoric ups and downs of a self-seeking Midlands family...from singing the Red Flag in 1945 to acting as a conduit for the Oriental drug market in the decadent Seventies." - Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
(2007). Brassneck was followed a year later by Brenton's The Churchill Play
The Churchill Play
The Churchill Play is a play by Howard Brenton. Written in 1974, the play offers a dystopian picture of an authoritarian England ten years in the future and is set in an internment camp named after Winston Churchill...
, again staged by Richard Eyre at the Nottingham Playhouse (1974), another 'state of the nation play' about the growing conflict between security and liberty, opening with the chilling image of a dead Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
rising from his catafalque in Westminster Hall. Brenton's play "offered an imaginative vision of a future in which basic human freedoms would be curtailed by the state. As so often, a dramatist saw things that others did not.' Ibid, M. Billington (2007).
Brenton's next major success was Weapons of Happiness
Weapons of Happiness
Weapons of Happiness is a 1976 political play by Howard Brenton about a strike in a London crisp factory. The play makes use of a dramatic conceit whereby the Czech communist cabinet minister Josef Frank is imagined alive in the 1970s , and his hallucinations of life in Stalinist Czechoslovakia...
, about a strike in a south London factory, commissioned by the National Theatre for its the new Lyttelton Theatre and the first commissioned play to be performed at its South Bank home. Staged by Hare in July 1976, it won the Evening Standard award for Best Play.
He gained notoriety for his play The Romans in Britain
The Romans in Britain
The Romans in Britain is a stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power.A cast of thirty actors play sixty roles.- Stage history :...
, first staged at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in October 1980, which drew parallels between the Roman invasion of Britain in 54BC and the British military presence in Northern Ireland. But the politics of his play were ignored. Instead a display of moral outrage focused on a scene of attempted anal rape of a Druid priest (played by Greg Hicks
Greg Hicks
Greg Hicks is an English actor. He completed theatrical training at Rose Bruford College and has been a member of The Royal Shakespeare Company since 1976...
), caught bathing by a Roman centurion (Peter Sproule). This resulted in a private prosecution by Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse
Mary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
against the play's director, Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...
. But Whitehouse's prosecution was withdrawn by her own legal team when it became obvious that it would not succeed.
The theme of Brenton's 1985 political comedy Pravda, a collaboration with David Hare who also directed, was aptly described by Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
3 May 1985 as "the rapacious absorption of chunks of the British press by a tough South African entrepreneur, Lambert Le Roux....superbly embodied by Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
who utters every sentence with precise Afrikaans over-articulation as if the rest of the world are idiots." The target of the satire was generally accepted to be the Australian international newspaper proprietor Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
and his News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
empire, but the play's main question mark was about the dangers for society and the state of monopolistic media ownership, with Hopkins making one of his last great, actorly stage appearances, a foretaste of his Hannibal Lecter on screen.
In 2008 most theatre critics expressed surprise that Brenton, long a political firebrand of the hard Left, author with Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
of several anti-establishment squibs, had written a biographical play about Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
, Never So Good at the National Theatre, that seemed wholly sympathetic to the former Tory prime minister. It was perhaps forgotten that Brenton, shortly before, had written a challenging play about the biblical figure of Saint Paul and a nimble romance about the love affair between the 12th century theologian Pierre Abelard and his attractive young student Heloise, suggesting a broadening of Brenton's political outlook if not a Damascene conversion. But it may also be noted that Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
’s central performance focused not on Macmillan as a wily political opportunist but on his unruffled urbanity and charm, an old Etonian with a profound sense of decency who eventually loses his way in a world of swiftly shifting values.
Plays
- Ladder of Fools, Cambridge University Actors, ADC TheatreADC TheatreThe ADC Theatre is a theatre in Cambridge, England and also a department of the University of Cambridge. It is located in Park Street, north off Jesus Lane. The theatre is owned by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club , but is currently run as the smallest department of the university,...
, Cambridge (1965) - Christie in LoveChristie in LoveChristie in Love is an early play by Howard Brenton concerning the life of serial killer John Christie, who murdered at least six women between 1943 and 1953, when he was caught, tried and hanged.-Stage history:...
, Portable TheatrePortable Theatre CompanyThe Portable Theatre Company were a group of thespians in the late '60s and early '70s who meant to open the eyes of the British people to what was wrong in their contemporary world.-Origins:...
, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs (1969) - Gum and Goo, Brighton Combination (1969); RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
at the Open Space TheatreOpen Space TheatreThe Open Space Theatre was created by Charles Marowitz and Thelma Holt in 1968.It began in a basement on Tottenham Court Road in London, then transferred to an art deco post office on the Euston Road in 1976. Thelma attracted a team of volunteer architects and workers to build the theatre...
(1971) - Revenge, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs (1969)
- Heads, University of BradfordUniversity of BradfordThe University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
Drama Group (1969); Inter-Action at the Ambience-in-Exile Lunch Hour Theatre Club (1970) - The Education of Skinny Spew, University of BradfordUniversity of BradfordThe University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
Drama Group (1969); Inter-Action at the Ambience-in-Exile Lunch Hour Theatre Club (1970) - Fruit (1970)
- Wesley, BradfordBradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
Festival (1970) - Scott of the Antarctic, Bradford Festival (1971)
- Hitler Dances, Traverse TheatreTraverse TheatreThe Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...
Workshop (1972) - Measure for MeasureMeasure for MeasureMeasure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
(adaptation), Northcott TheatreNorthcott TheatreThe Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England.-History:The Northcott is the seventh building in Exeter to be used as a theatre....
(1972) - MagnificenceMagnificence (play)Magnificence is a 1973 play by English playwright Howard Brenton. It has two plotlines. Firstly, five far-left revolutionaries squat an unoccupied house in London. Secondly, a Conservative cabinet MP loses faith in himself...
, Royal Court (1973) - Brassneck, written with David HareDavid Hare (dramatist)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
, Nottingham PlayhouseNottingham PlayhouseThe Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in the 1950s when it operated from a former cinema. Directors during this period included Val May and Frank Dunlop.-The building:...
(1973) - The Churchill PlayThe Churchill PlayThe Churchill Play is a play by Howard Brenton. Written in 1974, the play offers a dystopian picture of an authoritarian England ten years in the future and is set in an internment camp named after Winston Churchill...
, Nottingham Playhouse (1974); revived by the RSC 1978 and 1988 - The Saliva Milkshake, Soho Poly Lunchtime TheatreSoho TheatreSoho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
(1975) - Weapons of HappinessWeapons of HappinessWeapons of Happiness is a 1976 political play by Howard Brenton about a strike in a London crisp factory. The play makes use of a dramatic conceit whereby the Czech communist cabinet minister Josef Frank is imagined alive in the 1970s , and his hallucinations of life in Stalinist Czechoslovakia...
, National TheatreRoyal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Lyttelton (1976); winner of the Evening Standard award 1976; revived by the Finborough TheatreFinborough TheatreThe Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...
, 2008 - Epsom DownsEpsom Downs (play)Epsom Downs is a 1977 play by Howard Brenton. Taking its name from the racecourse at which it is set, the play presents a panorama of race-goers, horse-owners, bookies, jockeys, etc...
, Joint Stock Theatre CompanyJoint Stock Theatre CompanyThe Joint Stock Theatre Company was founded in London 1974 by David Hare, Max Stafford-Clark and David Aukin. The director William Gaskill was also an important part of the company. It was primarily a new work company....
(1977) - Deeds, written with Trevor GriffithsTrevor GriffithsTrevor Griffiths is an English dramatist.Raised as a Roman Catholic, he attended Saint Bede's College, before being accepted into Manchester University in 1952 to read English...
, Ken CampbellKen CampbellKen Campbell was an English writer, actor, director and comedian.Ken Campbell may also refer to:* Ken Campbell , Canadian evangelist* Ken Campbell , former Scotland international goalkeeper...
, and David HareDavid Hare (dramatist)Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
, Nottingham Playhouse (1978) - Sore Throats, RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
(1978) - The Life of Galileo, translation from Bertolt BrechtBertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, National Theatre, Olivier (August 1980) - The Romans in BritainThe Romans in BritainThe Romans in Britain is a stage play by Howard Brenton that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power.A cast of thirty actors play sixty roles.- Stage history :...
, National Theatre, Olivier (October 1980) - A Short Sharp Shock, written with Tony Howard, Royal Court at the Theatre Royal Stratford EastTheatre Royal Stratford EastThe Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company.-History:...
(1980) - Thirteenth Night, RSC Donmar Warehouse (1981)
- Danton's DeathDanton's DeathDanton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.-History:Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Realism in the so-called Vormärz era in German history and literature...
, translation from Georg BüchnerGeorg BüchnerKarl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
, National Theatre, Olivier (July 1982) - Conversations in Exile, adapted from BrechtBrechtBrecht is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Brecht proper, Sint-Job-in't-Goor and Sint-Lenaarts. On January 1, 2006 Brecht had a total population of 26,464...
, Foco Novo (1982) - The Genius, Royal Court (1983)
- Sleeping Policemen, written with Tunde Ikoli, Foco Novo, Hemel Hempstead then Royal Court (1983)
- Bloody PoetryBloody PoetryBloody Poetry is a 1984 play by Howard Brenton centring on the lives of Percy Shelley and his circle.The play had its roots in Brenton's involvement with the small touring company Foco Novo and was the third, and final, show he wrote for them...
, Foco Novo, Hampstead TheatreHampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
(1984); Royal Court (1987) - PravdaPravda (play)Pravda is a play by David Hare and Howard Brenton. It was first produced at the Royal National Theatre on 2 May 1985, directed by David Hare starring Anthony Hopkins in the role of Lambert Le Roux. It is a satire on the mid-1980s newspaper industry, in particular the press baron Rupert Murdoch...
, written with David Hare, National Theatre, Olivier (1985); winner of the Evening Standard Award 1985 - Greenland, Royal Court (1988)
- H.I.D. (Hess is Dead), RSC, Almeida TheatreAlmeida TheatreThe Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
(1989) - Iranian Nights with Tariq AliTariq AliTariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
, Royal Court (1989) - Moscow Gold with Tariq Aii, RSC Barbican Theatre (1990)
- Berlin Bertie, Royal Court (1992)
- FaustGoethe's FaustJohann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
Parts 1 and 2, translation from Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, RSC Swan TheatreSwan TheatreSwan Theatre may refer to:* The Swan , an Elizabethan playhouse* Swan Theatre , a theatre belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England...
, Stratford upon Avon (September 1995); RSC The PitBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
(September 1996) - Ugly Rumours, with Tariq Ali, Tricycle TheatreTricycle TheatreThe Tricycle Theatre is located on Kilburn High Road in Kilburn in the London Borough of Brent, England. During the last 30 years, the Tricycle has been presenting plays reflecting the cultural diversity of its community; in particular Black, Irish, Jewish, Asian and South African works, as well as...
(1998) - Collateral Damage with Tariq Ali and Andy de la TourAndy de la TourAndy de la Tour is an English actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in such films as Plenty, Notting Hill and the Roman Polanski version of Oliver Twist. He has also written or appeared in such television series as Boon, The Young Ones, Bottom, Peak Practice and Kavanagh QC...
, Tricycle Theatre (1999) - Snogging Ken with Tariq Ali and Andy de la Tour, Almeida Theatre (2000)
- Kit's Play, RADA Jerwood Theatre, (2000)
- PaulPaul (play)Paul is a 2005 play by Howard Brenton, which portrays the life and career of Paul the Apostle. It was first performed in the Cottesloe auditorium of the National Theatre, London from 30 September 2005 – 4 February 2006, in modern dress....
, National Theatre, Cottesloe (November 2005) http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/paul-rev.htm, Olivier nomination for Best Play - In ExtremisIn Extremis (play)In Extremis: The Story of Abelard & Heloise is a play by Howard Brenton on the story of Heloise and Abelard, which premiered at the Globe Theatre on 27 August 2006 with a 15 performance run. The play was directed by John Dove with design by Michael Taylor, and music by William Lyons...
, Shakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
(2006) http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/14010/in-extremis, revived 2007 - Never So GoodNever So Good (play)Never So Good is a 2008 play by Howard Brenton, which portrays the life and career of Harold Macmillan, a 20th-century Conservative British politician who served as Prime Minister...
, National Theatre, Lyttelton (2008) http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/20229/never-so-good - Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn (play)Anne Boleyn is a 2010 play on the life of Anne Boleyn by the English author Howard Brenton, which premiered at the Shakespeare's Globe from 24 July to 21 August 2010 in a production directed by John Dove and with the title role played by Miranda Raison...
, Shakespeare's Globe (2010) - Danton's DeathDanton's DeathDanton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.-History:Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Realism in the so-called Vormärz era in German history and literature...
, National Theatre, Olivier (2010), a translation from Georg BüchnerGeorg BüchnerKarl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany... - The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Liverpool Everyman and Chichester Festival Theatre (2010)
Books
- Diving for Pearls (novel), Nick Hern Books (1989) ISBN 9781854590251
- Hot Irons (diaries, essays, journalism), Nick Hern Books (1995) ISBN 1854591231; reissued in an expanded version, Methuen (1998)
Libretto
- Playing Away, libretto for Ben Mason's football opera, Opera NorthOpera NorthOpera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
and Munich BiennaleMunich BiennaleThe Munich Biennale is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over...
(1994); revived Bregenz Festival (2007)
Screenplays
- Lushly (1972)
- The Saliva Milkshake, BBC (1975)
- The Paradise Run, Thames TV (1976)
- Desert of Lies, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
(1984) - Dead HeadDead Head (TV series)Dead Head is a four-part crime thriller scripted by Howard Brenton. Juxtaposing 1930s film noir style and costume with contemporary London settings, it aroused controversy due to sexually explicit scenes. It was directed by Rob Walker....
, BBC 4-part series (1986) - SpooksSpooksSpooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, BBC drama series (2002-2005), fourteen episodes; BAFTA Best Drama SeriesBritish Academy Television Award for Best Drama SeriesThe British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards , the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry...
2003- "Traitor's Gate"
- "The Rose Bed Memoirs"
- "Mean, Dirty, Nasty" (with David WolstencroftDavid WolstencroftDavid Wolstencroft is a Scottish television writer and author. He is best known as creator of the BAFTA award-winning TV spy drama Spooks and its spin-off series, Spooks: Code 9. Wolstencroft was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1969 and grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, later going on to read history at...
) - "Nest of Angels"
- "Blood & Money"
- "I Spy Apocalypse"
- "Smoke & Mirrors"
- "Project Friendly Fire"
- "The Sleeper"
- "Who Guards the Guards" (with Rupert Walters)
- "Celebrity"
- "Road Trip"
- "The Russian"
- "Diana"
Awards
- Evening Standard AwardEvening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for best play of 1976, for Weapons of Happiness - Evening Standard AwardEvening Standard AwardsThe Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for best play of 1985, for PravdaPravda (play)Pravda is a play by David Hare and Howard Brenton. It was first produced at the Royal National Theatre on 2 May 1985, directed by David Hare starring Anthony Hopkins in the role of Lambert Le Roux. It is a satire on the mid-1980s newspaper industry, in particular the press baron Rupert Murdoch...
Sources
- The Second Wave by John Russell TaylorJohn Russell TaylorJohn Russell Taylor is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such important figures in Anglo-American film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, and Ingrid Bergman; of Strangers in Paradise: The...
, Methuen 1978 reprint - Who's Who in the Theatre, 17th Edition, Gale (1981)
- Brenton: Plays One, Methuen 1986 ISBN 0413404307
- Theatre RecordTheatre RecordTheatre Record is a periodical that reprints reviews, production photographs, and other information about the British theatre.-Overview:Founded by Ian Herbert and published fortnightly since January 1981, Theatre Record is printed and published in England every two weeks.It reprints unabridged all...
and its annual Indexes - Howard Brenton's CV for Never So Good RNT programme 2008