UK Playwright Peter Nichols to Celebrate His 90th Birthday at the British Library

To mark the 90th birthday, of one of the UK's greatest living playwrights, Peter Nichols, The British Library will be hosting an evening, celebrating the man and his work, on Friday 22 September. Joining Peter for an evening of conversation will be one of the key directors of his work, Michael Grandage. In addition to readings of extracts from his plays by some special guests, the evening promises to be full of anecdotes and observations as Peter looks back on his life, illustrated with material from his expansive and fascinating archive which is now housed at the British Library.

In 1967, Nichols shot to fame with his theatrical debut, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg. Following this, he wrote two Award-winning plays, The National Health and Passion Play, both winning the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. Privates on Parade also won the Evening Standard Award for best comedy, an Ivor Novello award for Best Musical and a Society of West End Theatre Award for Comedy of the Year. His television plays include Hearts and Flowers and Inspector Morse. Recent revivals of his work have attracted actors such as Roger Allam, Eddie Izzard, Clive Owen and Stephanie Cole. In 2012, Privates on Parade opened Michael Grandage's Company season at the Noel Coward Theatre starring Simon Russell Beale and directed by Grandage himself, who had previously directed a highly successful production of Passion Play at the Donmar Warehouse which subsequently transferred to the West End. In the 1960s, Peter also wrote the screenplays of such films as Georgy Girl and Having A Wild Weekend (For the Dave Clark Five) before going on to adapt some of his stage plays for both the small and big-screen including A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, The National Health and Privates on Parade. Further playwriting credits include Forget-Me-Not Lane, The Freeway, Chez Nous, Born In The Gardens, Passion Play, Poppy, Blue Murder (Later Fig-Leaves), So Long Life and A Piece Of My Mind And Lingua Franca.

For more information visit http://www.bl.uk/events/peter-nichols-at-90.

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