Moira Buffini (born 29 May 1965) is an English dramatist, director, and actor.

Early life

Buffini was born in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

to Irish parents, and attended St Mary's College at Rhos-on-Sea in Wales as a day girl. She studied English and Drama at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the ...

, London University (1983–86).http://www.proscenium.org.uk/productions/assets/0306-dinner/programme.pdf She subsequently trained as an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.

Career

For ''Jordan'', co-written with Anna Reynolds in 1992, she won a Time Out Award for her performance and Writers' Guild Award for Best Fringe play. Her 1997 play ''Gabriel'' was performed at Soho theatre, winning the LWT Plays on Stage award and the Meyer-Whitworth Award. Her 1999 play '' Silence'' earned Buffini the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for best English-language play by a woman. ''Loveplay'' followed at the RSC in 2001, then ''Dinner'' at the National Theatre in 2003 which transferred to the West End and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Comedy. Buffini wrote ''Dying For It'', a free adaptation of

Nikolai Erdman Nikolai Robertovich Erdman ( rus, Николай Робертович Эрдман, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ˈrobʲɪrtəvʲɪtɕ ˈɛrdmən, a=Nikolay Robyertovich Erdman.ru.vorb.oga; , Moscow – 10 August 1970) was a Soviet dramatist and screenwriter p ...

's classic, ''The Suicide'', for the Almeida in 2007. She followed it with ''Marianne Dreams'' a dance play with choreographer

Will Tuckett Will Tuckett (born 1969) is an English director and choreographer, who has created works for many international companies including the Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and English National Ballet. Early life Tuckett was born in ...

, based on

Catherine Storr Catherine Storr, Baroness Balogh (born Catherine Cole; 21 July 1913 – 8 January 2001,Eccleshare (2005) gives the date of her death as 8 January; Eccleshare (2001) and Thwaite (2001) give it as 6 January.) was an English children's writer, best ...

's book. Her play for young people, ''A Vampire Story'' was performed as part of NT Connections in 2008. She did a writers’ attachment at the Royal National Theatre Studio in 1996. Buffini advocates big, imaginative plays rather than naturalistic soap opera dramas, and is a founder member of the Monsterists, a group of playwrights who promote new writing of large scale work in the British theatre. She has been described by David Greig as a metaphysical playwright. All her plays have been published by Faber. Buffini is also a prolific screenwriter. In 2010 her film adaptation of Posy Simmon's "

Tamara Drewe ''Tamara Drewe'' is a weekly comic strip serial by Posy Simmonds, which had a 13 month run in ''The Guardian''s Review section. The strip is based upon a modern reworking of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel ''Far from the Madding Crowd''. The story wa ...

" was released, directed by Stephen Frears. In 2011 her adaptation of ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'' for BBC Films and Ruby Films was released. The script appeared on the 2008 Brit List, a film-industry-compiled list of the best unproduced screenplays in British film. It received nine votes, putting it in second place. Buffini adapted her play ''A Vampire Story'' for the screenplay of Neil Jordan's film '' Byzantium'' released in 2013. She took part in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project '' Sixty Six Books'' for which she wrote a poem titled “God is Jealous,” based upon Nahum, a book of the King James Bible. On the 21 January 2015, it was announced that

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first tak ...

would premier ''

wonder.land ''Wonder.land'' is a musical with music by Damon Albarn and lyrics and book by Moira Buffini. Inspired by Lewis Carroll's novels ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871), the musical made its world prem ...

'', a new musical with music by Damon Albarn, book and lyrics by Moira Buffini and direction from Rufus Norris. ''wonder.land'' is inspired by '' Alice In Wonderland'' by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

and is a co-production with The National Theatre.

Plays

*''Jordan'' (1992) *''Gabriel'' (1997) *''Blavatsky's Tower ''(1998) *'' Silence'' (1999) *''The Games Room'' *''Loveplay'' (2001) *'' Dinner'' (2002) *''Dying For It'' (2007) a free adaptation of

's '' The Suicide'' *''A Vampire Story'' (2008) *'' Welcome to Thebes'' (2010) *''

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

'' (2011) written with Penelope Skinner, Matt Charman and Jack Thorne *''

Handbagged ''Handbagged'' is a play by the British playwright Moira Buffini, examining the relationship between Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister from 1979 to 1990. Background ''Handbagged'' originated ...

'' (2013) *''

'' (2015) *''Manor'' (2021)

Filmography

*'' Marianne Dreams'' (2007) *''

'' (2010) *''

'' (2011) *'' Byzantium'' (2012) *'' Viceroy's House'' (2017) *'' Harlots'' (2017-2019) *'' The Dig'' (2021)

References

External links

*
"Moira Buffini"
entry by Aleks Sierz in his ''

In-yer-face theatre In-yer-face theatre is a term used to describe a confrontational style and sensibility of drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s. This term was borrowed by British theatre critic Aleks Sierz as the title of his book, ''In-Yer-Face Theat ...

'' website. Accessed 8 June 2008.
"Monsterists"
entry by Aleks Sierz in his ''

'' website. Accessed 8 June 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffini, Moira 1965 births Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people People from Northwich Writers from Cheshire English women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English women writers 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century English writers 21st-century English women writers British women screenwriters English screenwriters English people of Irish descent