James Saunders (8 January 1925 – 29 January 2004) was a prolific English

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

born in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London. His early plays led to him being considered one of the leading British exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd.''Penguin Plays – Absurd Drama''
(intro),

Martin Esslin Martin Julius Esslin OBE (6 June 1918 – 24 February 2002) was a Hungarian-born British producer, dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama, known for coining the term " theatre of the ab ...

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

(1965)

Personal life

He was educated at Wembley County Grammar School, which now forms part of

Alperton Community School Alperton Community School is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school and sixth form with Academy (English school), academy status. It has a specialism in maths, computing and arts and it is located in the Alperton area of the Londo ...

and Southampton University. He married Audrey Cross.

Plays

His play ''Next Time I'll Sing To You'', written in 1962, was staged in the West End starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

, Barry Foster and

Liz Fraser Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of b ...

, at the New Arts and the Criterion Theatre in 1963. It gained him the 1963 ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'' award (with Charles Wood) for "Most Promising Playwright". The play was also produced in New York the same year. In 1975 he completed

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

's four-act fragment, ''A Journey to London'', a play that had been sentimentalised by

Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''An Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in ...

in 1728 as '' The Provoked Husband''. Saunders' version was first staged in Greenwich and successfully revived at the Orange Tree Theatre in 1986. ''Bodies'', commissioned and first staged by Sam Walters at the Orange Tree in 1977, was revived by Robin Lefévre at the

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. History The original ''Hampstead Theatre Clu ...

in February 1978, and given a West End transfer in April 1979, starring Dinsdale Landen,

Gwen Watford Gwendoline Watford (10 September 1927 – 6 February 1994), professionally known after the mid-1950s as Gwen Watford, was an English actress. Watford's talent was spotted by John Gielgud while she was still a schoolgirl, and with his help ...

, David Burke and Angela Down.

Television

Saunders' television work included ''Watch Me I'm a Bird'' (1964), and the BBC sitcom ''

Bloomers Bloomers, also called the bloomer, the Turkish dress, the American dress, or simply Victorian dress reform, reform dress, are divided women's garments for the lower body. They were developed in the 19th century as a healthful and comfortable a ...

'' (1979), starring

Richard Beckinsale Richard Arthur Beckinsale (6 July 1947 – 19 March 1979) was an English actor. He played Lennie Godber in the BBC British sitcom, sitcom ''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'' (along with its sequel series ''Going Straight'') and Alan Moore ...

(in the year that he died) playing an unsuccessful actor working in a flower shop. Beckinsale's co-star was Anna Calder-Marshall.

Works

Stage plays include: *''Moonshine'' (1955) *''The Ark'' (1959) *''A Slight Accident'' (one-act 1961) *''Double Double'' (1962) *''Next Time I'll Sing To You'' (1962) *''Who was Hilary Maconochie?'' (one-act 1963) *''A Scent of Flowers'' (1966) *''The Travails of Sancho Panza'' (1969) *''Games'' (one-act 1970) *''After Liverpool'' (one-act 1970) *''Hans Kolhaus'' (1972) *''A Journey to London'' (co-author, 1975) *''The Island'' (1976) *'' Bodies'' (1977) *''Over the Wall'' (one-act 1977) *''Random Moments in a May Garden'' (1980) *''Retreat'' (1995)

Sources

*''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 14th Jubilee Edition, ed Freda Gaye, Pitman (1967) *''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 17th edition, ed Ian Herbert, Gale (Vols 1 and 2, 1981) * Theatre Record and its annual Indexes *''Halliwell's Television Companion'' by

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

and Philip Purser, Grafton Books (1986)

References

External links

James Saunders – English playwright
at www.jamessaunders.org
The James Saunders Papers
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

James Saunders' English bibliography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, James 1925 births 2004 deaths Alumni of the University of Southampton Theatre of the Absurd English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers