Mustapha Matura
Encyclopedia
Mustapha Matura is a Trinidadian
playwright
living in London
.
In 1971 his play As Time Goes By was first performed at the Traverse Theatre Club in Edinburgh and the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, with a cast of noted Caribbean actors including Stefan Kalipha, Alfred Fagon, Mona Hammond and Corinne Skinner-Carter
. Play Mas was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1974 (with Stefan Kalipha, Rudolph Walker
, Norman Beaton
and Mona Hammond
in the cast). In 1974 Matura received the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award. Among his subsequent plays are Rum and Coca Cola (1976), Independence (1979), and The Coup (1991).
His work for television includes the Channel 4 sitcom No Problem! (1983-5), written by Matura with Farrukh Dhondy
, and Black Silk (BBC, 1985), which he devised in collaboration with Rudy Narayan
.
He is married to Ingrid Selberg, daughter of Norwegian
mathematician
Atle Selberg
.
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
In 1971 his play As Time Goes By was first performed at the Traverse Theatre Club in Edinburgh and the Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre, with a cast of noted Caribbean actors including Stefan Kalipha, Alfred Fagon, Mona Hammond and Corinne Skinner-Carter
Corinne Skinner-Carter
Corinne Skinner-Carter is a Trinidadian actress, based in the United Kingdom. She began acting professionally in the 1950s. She has worked in black British film and television, and is possibly best known for her role as Audrey Trueman in BBC's EastEnders.-Career:Skinner-Carter came from Trinidad...
. Play Mas was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1974 (with Stefan Kalipha, Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker
Rudolph Walker, OBE is a British character actor. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Walker came to the United Kingdom in 1960....
, Norman Beaton
Norman Beaton
Norman Lugard Beaton was a Guyanese actor long resident in the United Kingdom....
and Mona Hammond
Mona Hammond
Mona Hammond OBE is a Chinese Jamaican actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where she has remained ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career...
in the cast). In 1974 Matura received the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award. Among his subsequent plays are Rum and Coca Cola (1976), Independence (1979), and The Coup (1991).
His work for television includes the Channel 4 sitcom No Problem! (1983-5), written by Matura with Farrukh Dhondy
Farrukh Dhondy
Farrukh Dhondy is a British writer, playwright and activist of Indian Parsi descent.-Education:Dhondy obtained a BSc degree from University of Poona in India before winning a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1964 where he read Natural Sciences before switching to English...
, and Black Silk (BBC, 1985), which he devised in collaboration with Rudy Narayan
Rudy Narayan
Rudy Narayan was a former barrister and civil rights activist in Britain.Narayan was born in Guyana then British Guiana and was the ninth of his parent's ten children....
.
He is married to Ingrid Selberg, daughter of Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
Atle Selberg
Atle Selberg
Atle Selberg was a Norwegian mathematician known for his work in analytic number theory, and in the theory of automorphic forms, in particular bringing them into relation with spectral theory...
.
Works
- Playboy of the West IndiesPlayboy of the West IndiesPlayboy of the West Indies is a play by Trinidadian playwright Mustapha Matura, a Caribbean version of Synge's The Playboy of the Western World....
- As Time Goes By
- Play Mas
- Independence
- Welcome Home Jacko
- Nice
- Meetings
Awards
Mustapha Matura has received a number of awards throughout his career, in the UK and in Trinidad.- 1994 : The Helen Hayes AwardHelen Hayes AwardA Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
. - 1991 : Trinidad National Award - The Scarlet Ibis Gold.
- 1974 : The Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award.
- 1971 : The John Whiting AwardJohn Whiting AwardThe John Whiting Award is awarded annually to a British or Commonwealth playwright who, in the opinion of a consortium of UK theatres, shows a new and distinctive development in dramatic writing with particular relevance to contemporary society...
. - 1971 : The George Devine Award.
Further reading
- "'Ter Speak in yer mudder tongue': An interview with playwright Mustapha Matura" in Kwesi Owusu (ed.), Black British Culture & Society, Routledge, 2000.