Roy Samuel Williams is a British playwright.

Early life

Williams was born in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

and brought up in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

, the youngest of four siblings in a single-parent home, with his mother working as a nurse after his father moved to the US. Williams decided to work in theatre after being tutored by the writer Don Kinch when he was failing in school and attended some rehearsals in a black theatrical company Kinch ran. After leaving school at the age of 18 Williams did various jobs, including working in

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and in a props warehouse. In 1992, he took a theatre-writing degree at

Rose Bruford College Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipl ...

and has worked ever since as a writer. His first full-length play was ''The No Boys Cricket Club'', which premiered in 1996 at

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

. Williams has done work in television, including adapting his own play ''Fallout'', and also co-wrote the script for the 2012 British film ''

Fast Girls ''Fast Girls'' is a 2012 British sports drama film directed by Regan Hall and written by Jay Basu, Noel Clarke and Roy Williams. It stars Lenora Crichlow, Lily James, Bradley James, Clarke and Rupert Graves. The film follows the story of two ...

''.

Awards

1996. Writers Guild of Great Britain award nomination for Best new writer of the year. For The No Boys Cricket Club. 1997. First recipient of the Alfred Fagon Award for Starstruck. 1999. Winner of The Joh Whiting Award for most promising playwright for Starstruck 1999. Winner of The Emma Award for best Theatre play, Starstruck. 2000. Joint winner of the George Devine Award for most promising playwright for Lift Off. 2001. Winner of The Of the Most Promising playwright Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Clubland 2002. Winner of the BAFTA award for best schools drama Offside. 2003. Best play nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre awards for Fallout. 2003. Winner of The Arts Council Decibel Award at the South Bank Awards for Fallout 2005. Best play for young people nomination for Little Sweet Thing for the UK theatre Awards. 2008. Awarded an OBE by her Majesty The Queen for services to drama. 2009 Winner at the Screen Nation awards for achievement in screenwriting for Fallout. 2010. Best play nomination at the Evening Standard Theatre awards for Sucker Punch 2010. Joint Winner of the Alfred Fagon award for Sucker Punch 2011. Best play nomination art The Olivier awards for Sucker Punch 2011. Winner of The Best Play at the Writers Guild of Great Britain Awards for Sucker Punch 2019. Winner of Diversity in Drama TV production for Soon Gone, Windrush Chronicle 2019. Winner of Content Innovation for Best Short firm series Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle 2020. Best Short form drama BAFTA TV Awards nomination for Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle 2020. Best new play nomination at the BBC radio drama Awards for The Likes of Us 2020. RTS nomination for Best writer for Soon Goon: A Windrush Chronicle 2022. Winner of Best Play/musical for Death Of England: Delroy at the Visionary Honours awards 2022. Best Single drama nomination at RTS Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face 2022 Best Single drama nomination at the BAFTA Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face 2023 Best Single drama nomination at the Broadcast Awards for Death Of England: Face to Face His plays include: * ''No Boys Cricket Club'' (1996),

* ''Starstruck'' (1998) * ''Lift Off'' (1999) * ''Local Boy'' (2000) * ''The Gift'' (2000) * ''Souls'' (2000) * ''Clubland'' (2001), Royal Court Theatre upstairs * ''Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads'' (2002), National Theatre * ''Fallout'' (2003),

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

downstairs * ''Joe Guy'' (2007) * ''Days of Significance'' (2007) * ''Baby Girl'' (2007), National Theatre, part of the Connections season * ''

Sucker Punch A sucker punch (American English), also known as a dog shot, coward punch, king hit or one-punch attack ( Australian and New Zealand English) or cold-cock (American English), is a punch made without warning or while the recipient is distracted ...

'' (2010),

downstairs * A contribution to ''

Sixty-Six Books ''Sixty-Six Books'' was a set of plays premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011, to mark the theatre's reopening on a new site and the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. It drew its title from the 66 books of the Protestant Bibl ...

'' (multi-authored piece) (2011),

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a s ...

* ''The Interrogation'' (2012- ),

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

* ''Advice for the Young at Heart'' (2013), Theatre Centre Kingston 14, Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2014. * ''Wildefire, Hampstead Theatre (2014) * 'Soul: Royal & Derngate/Hackney Empire, (2016) The Firm, Hampstead Theatre, 2017, returning for a second run in 2019. * '' Death of England'' with Clint Dyer (2020) *'' Death of England: Delroy'' with Clint Dyer (2020) Faith Hope & Glory (2020-) BBC Radio 4 Out West (Go Girl) Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, 2021 NW Trilogy (Life Of Riley) Kiln Theatre, 2021 The Fellowship , Hampstead Theatre 2022 Unexpected Twist (Based on the children's novel by Michael Rosen) opens at the Royal & Derngate Theatre Northampton followed by four month UK theatre tour in 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roy 1968 births Living people 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century English dramatists and playwrights Black British writers Alumni of Rose Bruford College Officers of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People from Fulham English people of Ghanaian descent English male dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British male writers