Michael Wynne is an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply The Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Aw ...

winning

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 ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Early life

Wynne was born in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

, Merseyside. He attended St Peter's Primary School and St Benedict's Secondary School. He studied Politics at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

Career

Wynne wrote his first play ''The Knocky'' in his final year at University. It was produced by the

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 West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, taken on tour and subsequently performed at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. It won the 1996 Meyer Whitworth Award, Best New Talent - Liverpool Echo Arts Awards and he was nominated as Best New Writer by the Writers Guild. Wynne has had eight plays produced by the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word ''court'' may also be app ...

- ''The Knocky'', ''The People Are Friendly'',

The Priory The Priory Hospital, Roehampton, often referred to as The Priory, is a private mental health hospital in South West London. It was founded in 1872 and is part of the Priory Group. The Priory has an international reputation and, because of the ...

, ''The Red Flag'', ''Friday Night Sex'' (co-written and directed with

Alecky Blythe Alecky Blythe, born 1976, is a British playwright and screenwriter. She has written several plays, including the acclaimed 2011 musical ''London Road (musical), London Road''. Her first play ''Come Out Eli'' won a Time Out Award. ''The Girlfriend ...

) ''Who Cares'', ''I'm Not Here'' for The Living Newspaper and ''Cuckoo''. The Priory won the

Olivier Award for Best New Comedy The Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre ...

. He has worked with four Royal Court artistic directors - Steven Daldry,

Ian Rickson Ian David Rickson (born 1963) is a British theatre director. He was the artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre in London from 1998 to 2006.

Dominic Cooke Dominic Cooke (born 1966) is an English director and writer. Early life Born in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, south London, Cooke was brought up seeing a lot of theatre as a teenager from free theatre tickets provided by the Inner London Ed ...

and Vicky Featherstone. Other plays include ''Sell Out'' and ''Dirty Wonderland'' for

Frantic Assembly Frantic Assembly is a theatre production company. They have worked in over 40 countries and are widely studied as practitioners for A-Levels in the UK. Background Frantic Assembly was formed by three students of Swansea University in 1994. No ...

. ''The Boy Who Left Home'' for Actors Touring Company/Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. ''Tits/Teeth'' for the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

and

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

. ''Canvas'' for the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Wynne wrote ''Too Cold For Snow'' for Prada at the

Prada Foundation Fondazione Prada, co-chaired by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli since 1995, is an institution dedicated to contemporary art and culture. From 1993 to 2010, the Fondazione has organised 24 solo shows at its exhibition spaces in Milan, concei ...

in Milan. It starred

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy ( ; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. His works encompass both stage and screen, and his accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He made his professional debut in Enda Walsh's 1996 pl ...

Kelly Reilly Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series ''The Biz (TV series), The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama ''Above S ...

Rupert Penry-Jones Rupert William Penry-Jones (born 22 September 1970) is an English actor from London. He is known for his performances as Adam Carter in '' Spooks'', Clive Reader in ''Silk'', DI Joseph Chandler in ''Whitechapel'', and Mr. Quinlan in the America ...

Hans Matheson Hans Matheson (born 7 August 1975) is a Scottish actor and musician. In a wide-ranging film and television career he has taken lead roles in diverse films such as '' Doctor Zhivago'', ''Sherlock Holmes'', ''The Tudors'', ''Tess of the d'Urberv ...

, Paul Fox and was directed by Vicky Featherstone. He took part in the first 24 Hour Plays at the

Old Vic Theatre The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

and wrote Cuba which starred

Penelope Wilton Dame Penelope Alice Wilton (born 3 June 1946) is an English actress. She was formerly married to fellow actor Sir Ian Holm and, as she has not remarried, retains her married style of Lady Holm. Wilton is known for starring opposite Richard ...

Harriet Walter Dame Harriet Mary Walter is an English actress. She has received an Olivier Award and nominations for a Tony Award, five Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, Walter was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British E ...

Alex Jennings Alex Michael Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings has received three O ...

and Susan Lynch and closed the night. He wrote and directed the play/film ''Collider'' about CERN, The Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs Boson for the Science Museum, London and subsequent world tour. Wynne wrote ''Hope Place'' for the

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool The Everyman Theatre stands at the north end of Hope Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1964, in Hope Hall (once a chapel, then a cinema), in an area of Liverpool noted for its bohemian environment and political edge, ...

. It was the first new play to be performed in the newly rebuilt Everyman Theatre and is the Everyman Theatre's best selling new play to date. He also wrote ''The Star'' for the Liverpool Playhouse, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Playhouse Theatre which was originally The Star Music Hall. Wynne’s plays are published by Faber and Faber. Wynne co-wrote the film

My Summer of Love ''My Summer of Love'' is a 2004 British drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the romantic relationship between two ...

(with Pawel Pawlikowski) which starred

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Emily Blunt, several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition t ...

and Natalie Press. It won the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

for Best British Film and Best Screenplay - Evening Standard Awards. He has written for television including Where The Heart Is,

Grafters ''Grafters'' was a British drama–comedy programme originally broadcast in the United Kingdom, UK on ITV (TV network), ITV from 27 October 1998 to 20 December 1999 for 16 episodes over two series. ''Grafters'' relates the lives of the Purvis ...

, As If, Sugar Rush and Eyes Down. He wrote the film ''Lapland'' for

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

and was shown on Christmas Eve in 2011 as part of the BBC1 Christmas schedule. It starred

Sue Johnston Sue Johnston (born Susan Wright; 7 December 1943) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy '' The Royle Family'' (1998–2012), G ...

, Steven Graham, Elizabeth Berrington, Julie Graham, William Ash and Zawe Ashton. He subsequently wrote the six part spin off series ''

Being Eileen ''Being Eileen'' is a BBC comedy-drama which began as a six-part series on 4 February and ended on 11 March 2013. It began as a one-off Christmas special titled ''Lapland'', broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 24 December 2011. A full ...

'' for BBC1. He wrote the '' Little Crackers'' installment " The Daltons", starring Sheridan Smith, about Smith's childhood, for

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. Theatre include: * ''The Knocky'' – The Royal Court Theatre * ''The Boy Who Left Home'' –

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre ...

* ''Sell Out'' – Frantic Assembly * ''Too Cold For Snow'' – The Prada Foundation * ''The People Are Friendly'' – The Royal Court Theatre * ''Dirty Wonderland'' – Frantic Assembly * ''Tits/Teeth'' –

* ''The Priory'' – The Royal Court Theatre * ''The Red Flag'' – The Royal Court Theatre * ''Canvas'' – Minerva Theatre, Chichester * ''Friday Night Sex'' (co written with Alecky Blythe) - The Royal Court Theatre * ''Hope Place''- Everyman Theatre, Liverpool * ''Who Cares'' - The Royal Court Theatre * ''The Star'' - Liverpool Playhouse * ''We Are Here'' - La Mama, New York * ''I'm Not Here'' - The Royal Court Theatre * ''Cuckoo'' - The Royal Court Theatre and Liverpool Everyman * ''DiscoShow'' - Caesars Palace, Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Television includes: * Where The Heart Is - ITV *

- ITV * As If - Channel 4 *

UGetMe ''UGetMe'' was an interactive comedy/drama series centering on three best friends Joe, Kit and Carly and the radio station they run called "UGetMe". Written by Adrian Hewitt, Stuart Kenworthy and Steve Turner, directed by Otto Bathurst and Maddy ...

- BBC1 * ''Substance'' - BBC3 * Don't Eat The Neighbours - ITV * Eyes Down - BBC1 *

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television comedy sketch programme written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten featuring a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' aired on BBC Two and was shown worldwide through the BBC ...

- BBC2 * Sugar Rush - Channel 4 * Mayo - BBC1 *

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

- BBC1 * ''Lapland /'' ''

'' - BBC1 * ''The Daltons'' - Sky Awards include: * Meyer Whitworth Award- Best New Playwright ''The Knocky'' * Best New Talent - Liverpool Echo Arts Awards - ''The Knocky'' * Best New Writer Nomination - Writers Guild - ''The Knocky'' * Best Off West End Play - Time Out Theatre Awards - ''Sell Out'' * Best New Comedy Nomination - Whatsonstage Awards - ''The People Are Friendly'' * BAFTA Best British Film -

* Best Screenplay - Evening Standard Film Awards -

* Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival -

* Best New Comedy Nomination - Whatsonstage Awards -

* Olivier Award - Best New Comedy -

Wynne has been writer on attachment at the Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre. He has led many playwriting groups and workshops, both nationally and internationally – Mexico, Ghana, Australia, United States (UCLA and Stanford). He was the Senior Playwright Tutor on the MA Creative Writing: Playwriting at Salford University working with students and writers from the Liverpool Everyman, Manchester Royal Exchange and Bolton Octagon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynne, Michael Living people 21st-century English dramatists and playwrights Academics of the University of Salford Alumni of Queen Mary University of London English male dramatists and playwrights English male television writers Writers from Birkenhead Year of birth missing (living people)