Owen McCafferty
Encyclopedia
Owen McCafferty is a playwright from Northern Ireland
.
Born in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
, McCafferty held several jobs, including tiling and working in an abattoir, before becoming a full-time writer. His play Scenes from the Big Picture, originally produced in 2003 at the National Theatre
in London, earned him the John Whiting Award
, the Evening Standard's
Charles Wintour Award for New Playwriting and the Meyer-Whitworth Award. It was the first time any playwright had won all three awards in one year.
McCafferty has also adapted J P Miller's Days of Wine and Roses but only used the skeleton of the original.
McCafferty's writing features the language and complexities, both comic and tragic, of Belfast life. Like Synge, McCafferty's dialogue is highly stylized and his vocabulary burst with strange compounds and coined words yet the sense of what is being said is never lost.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
Born in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, McCafferty held several jobs, including tiling and working in an abattoir, before becoming a full-time writer. His play Scenes from the Big Picture, originally produced in 2003 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 London, earned him the John Whiting Award
John Whiting Award
The 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...
, the Evening Standard's
Evening Standard Awards
The 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...
Charles Wintour Award for New Playwriting and the Meyer-Whitworth Award. It was the first time any playwright had won all three awards in one year.
McCafferty has also adapted J P Miller's Days of Wine and Roses but only used the skeleton of the original.
McCafferty's writing features the language and complexities, both comic and tragic, of Belfast life. Like Synge, McCafferty's dialogue is highly stylized and his vocabulary burst with strange compounds and coined words yet the sense of what is being said is never lost.
List of Plays
- Mojo Mickybo
- Cold Comfort
- Freefalling
- Brothers of the Crow
- Closing Time
- Scenes from the Big Picture
See also
- List of Northern Irish writers
- Gary MitchellGary MitchellGary Mitchell is a Northern Irish playwright. By the 2000s, he had become "one of the most talked about voices in European theatre ... whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright"....
- Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
- Tom MurphyTom Murphy (playwright)Tom Murphy is an Irish dramatist who has worked closely with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and with Druid Theatre, Galway. He was born in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland...
- Sean O'CaseySeán O'CaseySeán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
- John Millington SyngeJohn Millington SyngeEdmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre...
- Marina CarrMarina CarrMarina Carr is an Irish playwright.Born in Tullamore, County Offaly, Carr attended University College Dublin before holding posts as writer-in-residence at the Abbey Theatre and Trinity College Dublin. She served as Heimbold Professor of Irish Studies at Villanova University in 2003...
- Stewart ParkerStewart ParkerJames Stewart Parker was a Northern Irish poet and playwright.He was born in Sydenham, Belfast, of a Protestant working class family. While still in his teens, he contracted bone cancer and had a leg amputated...