|
One of the most-produced writers of his time, Willy Russell (b. Whiston, Liverpool, 23 Aug. 1947) is a playwright and songwriter. He has written a large number of highly successful plays and musicals for stage and TV including John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert (1974), Breezeblock Park (1975), One for the Road (1976),Our Day Out (television 1977; stage musical version 1983), Stags and Hens (1978; filmed as Dancin' thru the Dark, 1990), Educating Rita (1979), Blood Brothers(1981; musical version 1983), and Shirley Valentine (1986). His novel, The Wrong Boy, was published to great acclaim in 2000. Ros Merkin is Reader in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University. She has written and edited books and articles on local and regional theatre including Liverpool Playhouse at 100: A Theatre and its City (Liverpool University Press, November 2011);The Glory of the Garden: English Regional Theatre Since 1984 (co-edited with Kate Dorney; Cambridge Scholars Press; 2010); Liverpool's Third Cathedral: the Liverpool Everyman Theatre In the Words of Those Who Were, and Are, There (Liverpool and Merseyside Theatres Trust, 2004); and "Liverpool" in The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (David Wiles and Christine Dymkowski, CUP, 2012). |
