Simon Gray

Simon James Holliday Gray CBE (October 21, 1936 – August 7 [Michael Billington, "Remembering Simon Gray", The Guardian, 07 August 2008 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/aug/07/rememberingsimongray1936200] ] , 2008) was a prolific postwar British playwright, whose work was performed worldwide.

Simon Gray was born in Hayling Island, Hampshire, England. During the Second World War he was evacuated to Canada. On his return he attended Westminster School, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1965 he was appointed a lecturer in English at Queen Mary's College, University of London. [ Obituary in Sunday Independent, 17 August 2008, page35] He lived and died in London.

He was married first to Beryl Kevern, with whom he had 2 children, and after their divorce, to Victoria, née Rothschild, now his widow, the youngest daughter of Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild.

In the New Year's Honours List published on 31 December 2004 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama and literature.

He died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm and not, as has been reported, of lung cancer, in August 2008, aged 71.

Career

Gray wrote over 30 plays, including "Butley" and "Quartermaine's Terms", numerous TV plays, film scripts, and a number of popular memoirs. Award winning for his work on stage and screen and as a director, he started his writing career as a novelist: his first novel, "Colmain", was published in 1963 by Faber and Faber; he wrote five. His career in drama began when he adapted one of his own short stories, "The Caramel Crisis", for TV. He subsequently wrote a number of plays for, amongst others, the Wednesday Play and Play for Today series for the BBC, frequently in collaboration with the producer Kenith Trodd. [ Museum of Broadcast Communications [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/htmlT/troddkenith/troddkenith.htm] ]

His stage career started with "Wise Child", an adaptation of a TV play deemed too shocking for the small screen. It starred the young Simon Ward and a cross-dressing Alec Guinness and was produced by Michael Codron at Wyndham's Theatre in 1967. There followed award winning single TV plays, original radio plays and adaptations (including of the 20th Century classic "The Rector’s Daughter" by F. M. Mayor), stage adaptations ("Tartuffe" and "The Idiot" and original TV films (including the award winning "Running Late", "After Pilkington", "Unnatural Pursuits" and "A Month in the Country". His 1971 play "Butley" (again produced by Codron) began a long creative partnership with Harold Pinter as director and continued the patnership with the actor Alan Bates begun with Gray's 1967 television play "Death of a Teddy Bear" [The Alan Bates Archive [http://alanbates.com/Bates] ] starred in eleven of Gray's works, while Pinter directed nine, most recently "The Old Masters", starring Peter Bowles and Edward Fox.

Performances by Bates in both "Butley" and "Otherwise Engaged" (1975) and by Edward Fox in "Quartermaine's Terms" (1981) became legendary. Gray wrote numerous other successful stage plays, many of them West End hits, including "The Common Pursuit", "The Late Middle Classes", "Hidden Laughter", "Japes", "Close of Play", "The Rear Column" and "Little Nell". He directed several of them himself. His play about George Blake, "Cell Mates" (starring Rik Mayall, Stephen Fry and Simon Ward, 1995) attracted media attention when [Stephen Fry] suffered a nervous breakdown and abruptly left the show. Gray subsequently wrote "Fat Chance", a memoir about the episode. [ [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/grays/fchance.htm The Complete Review: "Fat Chance"] ]

In 1984, at the suggestion of Robert McCrum, then editor-in-chief at Faber and Faber, he kept a diary of the production of his play "The Common Pursuit " (directed by Pinter at the Lyric Hammersmith) and there resulted the first of 8 works of non-fiction ("An Unnatural Pursuit", Faber 1985). These culminated in the acclaimed trilogy "The Smoking Diaries" (published by Granta under the auspices of the then editor Ian Jack in 2004,2006 and 2008)in which he was said to have re-invented the memoir form. [Ian Jack, "In Memory of Simon Gray" [http://www.granta.com/Magazine/Granta-103/In-Memory-of-Simon-Gray] ] A final volume of diaries, "Coda", will be published jointly by Granta and Faber in November 2008. In August 2008, shortly before his death, he caused controversy with criticism of the Royal National Theatre's "cowardice" in dealing with the subject of radical Islam. [Henry Deedes [http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/pandora/pandora-gray-goes-onthe-attackover-hytners-easyliberalism-880322.html "Gray goes on the attack over Hytner's 'easy liberalism'",] "The Independent", 30 July 2008.]

He wrote lead roles for middle-aged males. His subject matter is often the trials and tribulations of educated intellectuals, and his plays are notable for their wit and emotional incisiveness.

Plays

*"Wise Child", Wyndham's Theatre (1967)
*"Dutch Uncle", Aldwych Theatre (1969)
*"The Idiot" (adapted from Dostoyevsky), Old Vic (1970)
*"Spoiled", Haymarket Theatre (February 1971)
*"Butley", Criterion Theatre (1971)
*"Otherwise Engaged", Queen's Theatre (1974)
*"Dog Days", Oxford 1976; Eyre Methuen (1976) ISBN 0413372707
*"Molly", stage adaptation of his television play "Death of a Teddy Bear" (1967), based on the Francis Rattenbury 1935 murder case, Comedy Theatre (1978)
*"The Rear Column", Globe Theatre (1978); Eyre Methuen (1978) ISBN 0413391701
*"Close of Play", National Theatre Lyttelton (1979)
*"Stage Struck", Vaudeville Theatre (1979)
*"Quartermaine's Terms", Queen's Theatre (1981)
*"Tartuffe (adaptation), Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (1982)
*"The Common Pursuit", Lyric Hammersmith (1984)
*"Melon" (later revised as "The Holy Terror"), Theatre Royal Haymarket (1987)
*"Hidden Laughter", Vaudeville Theatre (1990)
*"The Holy Terror", Temple of Arts Theater, Tucson, Arizona (1991)
*"Cell Mates", Albery Theatre (1995)
*"Simply Disconnected", sequel to "Otherwise Engaged", Minerva Theatre, Chichester (1996)
*"Life Support", Aldwych Theatre (1997)
*"Just the Three of Us", Yvonne Arnaud Theatre (1997); Nick Hern Books (1999) ISBN 1854594346
*"The Late Middle Classes", Watford Palace (1999)
*"Japes", Peter Hall Company, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (2000) and Theatre Royal Haymarket (2001)
*"Japes Too" and "Michael", published in "Four Plays" by Faber (2004) ISBN 0571219888
*"The Pig Trade", published in "Four Plays" (2004)
*"The Holy Terror" (revival), Duke of York's Theatre (2004) [John Thaxter, The Stage review of "The Holy Terror", 2004 [http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/1729/the-holy-terror] ]
*"The Old Masters" featuring art critic Berenson and art dealer Duveen, Comedy Theatre (2004) [Philip Fisher, The British Theatre Guide review of "The Old Masters", 2004 [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/oldmasters-rev.htm] ]
*"Little Nell", BBC Radio 4 (2006); Theatre Royal, Bath (2007) [Allison Vale, The British Theatre Guide review of "Little Nell" [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/littlenell-rev.htm] ]
*"Missing Dates", BBC Radio 4 (1 March 2008)

creenplays

*"Butley" (1974)
*"A Month in the Country" adapted from the novel by J. L. Carr (1987)

Television plays

*"The Caramel Crisis" (BBC, Thirty Minute Theatre, 25 April 1966)
*"Death of a Teddy Bear", based on the Francis Rattenbury 1935 murder case (BBC, Wednesday Play, 15 February 1967)
*"A Way with the Ladies" (BBC, Wednesday Play, 10 May 1967)
*"Sleeping Dogs" (BBC, Wednesday Play, 11 October 1967)
*"The Princess", adapted from a D. H. Lawrence short story (BBC, "The Jazz Age", 1968)
*"Spoiled" (BBC, Wednesday Play 28 August 1968); Methuen Plays (1971) ISBN 0416186300
*"Mother Love", adapted from W. Somerset Maugham (BBC, August 1969)
*"Pig in a Poke" (ITV, Saturday Night Theatre, March 1969)
*"The Dirt on Lucy Lane" (ITV, Saturday Night Theatre, April 1969)
*"The Style of the Countess", adapted from the novel by Gavin Lambert (ITV, Playhouse, August 1970)
*"Man in a Side-Car" (BBC, Play for Today, May 1971)
*"Plaintiffs and Defendants" (BBC, October 1975)
*"Two Sundays" (BBC, October 1975)

Films for Television

*"The Rear Column" (BBC, 1980)
*"Quartermaine's Terms" (BBC, 1987)
*"After Pilkington" (BBC, January 1987)
*"Old Flames" (BBC, 1990)
*"They Never Slept" (BBC, March 1991)
*"The Common Pursuit" (BBC, March 1992)
*"Running Late" (BBC, October 1992)
*"Unnatural Pursuits" (semi-autobiographical, two-part satire, BBC, December 1992)
*"Femme Fatale" (BBC, February 1993)

Novels

*"Colmain", Faber (1963)
*"Simple People", Faber (1965)
*"A Comeback for Stark" (writing as Hamish Reade), Putnam (1968), Faber (1969)
*"Little Portia", Faber (1986) ISBN 0571145980
*"Breaking Hearts", Faber (1997) ISBN 0571172385

Memoirs

*"An Unnatural Pursuit and Other Pieces", Faber (1985) ISBN 0571137199
*"How's that for Telling 'em, Fat Lady?", Faber (1988) ISBN 0571151396
*"Fat Chance", Faber (1995) ISBN 0571177921
*"Enter A Fox", Faber (2001) ISBN 0571209408
*"The Smoking Diaries", Granta Books (2004) ISBN 186207688X [Jeremy Lewis, Sunday Times review of "The Smoking Diaries", 2004 [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article823069.ece] ]
*"The Year of the Jouncer", Granta Books (2006) ISBN 1862078963 [Phil Baker, Sunday Times review of "The Year of the Jouncer", 2004 [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article620090.ece] ]
*"The Last Cigarette: Smoking Diaries Volume 3", Granta Books (2008) ISBN 1847080383 [Lynne Truss, Sunday Times review of "The Last Cigarette", 2008; [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3731900.ece] ] [Charles Spencer: "Wafts of Candour from Simon Gray", Daily Telegraph review of "The Last Cigarette". 2008 [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/04/06/bogra106.xml&DCMP=EMC-art_11042008] ]

Honours and Awards

*1967 Writer's Guild Award for Best Play, for "Death of a Teddy Bear"
*1971 Evening Standard Award, for "Butley"
*1975 Best Play, New York Drama Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Award, for "Otherwise Engaged"
*1982 Cheltenham Literary Prize, for "Quartermaine's Terms"
*1987 Prix Italia, for "After Pilkington"
*1993 Golden Gate Award for a Television Feature, San Francisco International Film Festival, for "Running Late"
*1999 Barclays Theatre Award for Best New Play, for "The Late Middle Classes"
*2004 Appointed CBE for services to Drama and Literature

References

*"Theatre Record" and its annual Indexes
*"Who's Who in the Theatre", Pitman 15th and 16th editions (1972 and 1977), Gale 17th edition (1981)
*"The Definitive Simon Gray: Butley and Other Plays v. 1", Faber (1992) ISBN 0571162231
*"The Definitive Simon Gray: Otherwise Engaged and Other Plays v. 2", Faber (1992) ISBN 0571162401
*"The Definitive Simon Gray: v. 3", Faber (1993) ISBN 0571164536
*"The Definitive Simon Gray: v. 4", Faber (1994) ISBN 0571166598
*"Key Plays" by Simon Gray, Faber (2002) ISBN 057121634X

External links

* [http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-1049112/Ask-doctor-Diabetics-look-kidneys-.html Ask the Doctor] Martin Scurr, Mail on Sunday, 26th August 2008.
*ibdb name|id=8689|name=Simon Gray
*IMDb name|0336957
* [http://www.untitledbooks.com/pages/interview/index.asp?InterviewID=55 Interview with Simon Gray] "Untitled Books", June 2008
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/aug/10/simongray.theatre Memories of Simon Gray, The Observer]
*Dalya Alberge: [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article4481496.ece "Simon Gray, self-deprecating writer and smoker dies"] "The Times" news report, 8 August 2008
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4480324.ece Obituary, The Times]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/simon-gray-playwright-novelist-and-author-of-a-series-of-hilarious-irascible-memoirs-888235.html Obituary, The Independent]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/aug/07/simongray.theatre Obituary, The Guardian]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/theater/08gray-1.html?ref=obituaries Obituary, New York Times]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8c91d038-65a3-11dd-a352-0000779fd18c.html, Obituary, Financial Times]
* [http://www.alanbates.com/abarchive/stage/lsessay.html Alan Bates Archive]
* [http://www.haroldpinter.org/directing/directing_butley.shtml Harold Pinter]
* [http://amitc.org/index.html A Month in the Country]