Roy Williams

One of Britain’s most significant playwrights, Roy Williams is also one of its most prolific. Since The No Boys Cricket Club (1996) premiered at Theatre Stratford East, Williams has gone on to write fifteen plays. Known for his nuanced portrayals of race and class, Williams leverages his exquisite powers of observation to reveal how the simmering pressures of contemporary life can explode into unchecked hatred. In Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (2002), Williams homes in on a group of working-class Londoners watching an England v. Germany soccer game at a pub. With an exquisite ear for dialogue, Williams’s characters’ conversations have the rhythms of everyday life, yet glint with the power of a talent who has been diligently sharpening his skills. “[Britain] can’t have everyone been a doctor or a lawyer, the economy would fall apart and do you know who we’re going to blame for not getting ahead?” says a white character to a Black one, commenting on the attacks on working-class solidarity from those in power, “You. Why? Because you’re different, because it’s convenient, because it’s easier to blame you than it is to think about what’s really going on.” With his signature style, and across his oeuvre, Williams paints a portrayal of today’s Britain both uncomfortable and undeniably essential. Williams’s many accolades include the Visionary Honours Award (2022), the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award (2011), the Alfred Fagon Award (2010 and 1997), the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright (2001), and a nomination for the Olivier Awards (2011). In addition to writing for the stage, Williams also writes for film, television, and radio.