Big Theatre in Small Spaces

The youngest of five children, Brendan grew up in Salford, Lancashire before training as an actor and working for ten years in TIE, fringe, Rep and commercial theatre. From 1982 to 1985 he was Head of Education at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry and in 1989/90, writer-in-residence at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield – where his playwriting career really began. Since then he has divided his time between writing, directing and teaching, principally at Drama Studio London. In 2002/3 he was the Visiting Gulbenkian Fellow in the Department of Palliative Care & Policy at King’s College Hospital and, from 2003 to 2008, Artistic Director of Oxfordshire (Touring) Theatre Company. He’s written for many of the leading small scale and youngpeople’s theatre companies in the UK as well as well as the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. His plays – of which there are over thirty for people of all ages – have been produced throughout the UK and abroad. How high is Up? has had over twenty productions worldwide and been translated into German, Welsh, Spanish and Serbian! Big Baby was shortlisted for the John Whiting Award in 2000; Eliza’s House (published by Samuel French) won the Arts Council Children’s Award (now known as the Theatre Centre Brian Way Award) in 2001, and Scarlet Ribbons won The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award (for which he has been shortlisted on several occasions) in 2009. Like the good northerner he is, he lives in Brighton and you can find out more about him at www.brendanmurray.co.uk

“Tender and ultimately shocking, the conflicts are subtle and the characters, never mere mouthpieces, all have the ring of truth about them.” The Stage“A play that captures the essence of rural life as it is lived today. These country folk are a million times away from the stereotypes used in The Archers, and the story is anything but everyday.” Oxford Times

• INTRODUCTION 7THE PLAYS:THE FALLING SKY 13MISSING IN ACTION 83ENTERTAINING ANGELS 157