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John Arden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Arden is an English playwright born in 1930 (Barnsley/York) and educated at Sedbergh School. His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He first gained critical attention for the radio play, The Life of Man in 1956 after graduating from the University of Cambridge.
His 1959 play, Serjeant Musgrave's Dance, dealing with the protestors of war and its realities, is considered Arden's best work. Arden is reputed to be one of the greatest playwrights of the post-Look Back in Anger era. His work bears the heavy influence of Bertolt Brecht and the Epic Theatre. Other plays include Live Like Pigs, The Workhouse Donkey and Armstrong's Last Goodnight, the last of which was performed at the National Theatre, staring Albert Finney.
He is notable for a number of highly public fallings-out with the theatre establishment - with his wife and co-writer Margaretta D'Arcy, he picketed the RSC premier of his Arthurian play The Island of the Mighty; and they have written several plays highly critical of British presence in Ireland and the Military-Industrial Complex.
He has also written a number of novels, including Silence Among the Weapons, and Books of Bale about the protestant apologist John Bale.
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