Gary Mitchell

For other people with the same name, see Gary Mitchell (disambiguation).

Gary Mitchell
Born	3 May 1965 (1965-05-03) (age 46)
Occupation	Playwright
Information
Genre	Political thriller[1]
Notable work(s)	As the Beast Sleeps, The Force of Change

Gary Mitchell (born May 3, 1965) 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".^[1]

From a working-class, loyalist background, Mitchell's first foray into writing was for Radio 4. His first play was produced by Tinderbox but Mitchell's first major theatre success was the production (by Connall Morrison) of his In A Little World of Our Own at the Peacock, a gripping and unflinching portrayal of loyalist culture. It won The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play in 1997,^[2] and it later went to Belfast as part of an Abbey Theatre tour. The following year the Peacock Theatre produced his As The Beast Sleeps.

His works have also premiered at London's Royal Court Theatre.

He won the prestigious Stewart Parker Award for Independent Voice; other accolades include the George Devine Award and the Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright.

In November 2005, he was forced out of his home in the Belfast suburb of Rathcoole after it was attacked by loyalist paramilitaries.^[1][3] He and his family have since been living in hiding somewhere in Northern Ireland.

See also

• List of Northern Irish writers
• Tom Murphy (playwright)
• Brian Friel
• Sean O'Casey
• John Millington Synge
• Marina Carr

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Loyalist paramilitaries drive playwright from his home — The Guardian news article, 21 December 2005.
2. ^ The Theatre Awards: 1997. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
3. ^ Playwright hits back against intimidation — The Observer news article, 29 January 2006.

External links

• Profile at irishplayography.com
• From Stage To Street — The final edition of this radio series featured Mitchell in Feb. 2011
• "Gary Mitchell asks why plays about Ulster Protestants are so often accused of bias" in The Guardian, 5 April 2003
• Colin Murphy, The John le Carré of Ulster loyalism, Le monde diplomatique, March 2011.

Persondata
Name	Mitchell, Gary
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Date of birth	May 3, 1965
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