Shaun McKenna

Shaun McKenna (born 1957) is an English dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter.

Biography

Born in 1957 in Maidstone, Kent. Shaun studied at Maidstone Grammar School and the University of Bristol (1975-78). He was an actor for a few years, then taught drama, and began writing in his late 20s.

Career

His early credits include "Killing Camille" (Paines Plough, Old Red Lion 1990, a rehearsed reading directed by Kathy Burke). He began an association with Michael Napier Brown at the Royal Theatre, Northampton for whom he adapted Richard Llewellyn’s "How Green Was My Valley" (1990) in which Aled Jones made his acting debut, and R. F. Delderfield’s "To Serve Them All My Days" (1992). He subsequently wrote an original drama, "Ruling Passions", which was presented at the Royal in 1995.

Since then he has become known more for his musical theatre, TV and radio writing.

Musical theatre

Musical theatre credits include "Maddie" (Salisbury Playhouse 1996, West End 1997) which he wrote with Steven Dexter and Stephen Keeling. He wrote the Book for "Lautrec" (West End 2000), collaborating with Charles Aznavour. Also that year, he and Stephen Keeling contributed additional material for "La Cava". He wrote Book and Lyrics for the large scale stage adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s "The Lord of the Rings" (Toronto 2006, West End 2007 and still running) with Matthew Warchus.

In 2005 Shaun and Stephen Keeling wrote "Heidi", entwining the famous children’s story and the life of its creator Johanna Spyri, which was first performed in an open-air production in Walenstadt, Switzerland. "Heidi II", a sequel, followed in 2007 and "Heidi III", a prequel, will premiere in July 2009.

creen and radio writing

For ITV Shaun McKenna has written "The Crooked Man" (2003, a feature directed by David Drury for ARG), and the two part thriller "Like Father, Like Son" (2005, directed by Nick Laughland for Ecosse). He also writes for "Heartbeat". He has several other TV projects in development.

He has written both original and adapted radio dramas for BBC Radio: "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1993), "Meeting Jack" (1995), "The Ghost Train" (1997), "East of Eden" (Classic Serial, 2000), "Me and Little Boots" (2000) a comedy about Caligula’s horse with Leslie Phillips, "Smiles of a Summer Night" (2001) with Samuel West and Nicholas Farrell, "Seawyf and Biscuit" (2002), "The Cry of the Owl" (2002), a World Service adaptation of "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (2002) with an all-star cast, and the radio adaptation of "To Serve Them All My Days" (2005).

For Oberon Books, Shaun has edited eight books of scenes for actors.

References

(1) www.albemarle-london.com/Archive/ArchiveShow.php?Show_Name=Maddie(2)www.thisistheatre.com/shows/shaftesbury116.html(3)www.tor.co.uk/lacava(4)www.heidimusical.ch(5)www.idmb.com/title/tt0352259(6)www.idmb.com/title/tt0442683/combined(7)www.lotr.com(8)www.amazon.com/Maddie-1997(9)www.oberonbooks.com