Nicholas de Jongh is a British writer, theatre critic and playwright. He served as the senior drama critic of the ''

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 ...

'' from 1991 to 2009. Prior to that, he had worked for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' for almost 20 years. In 2008, de Jongh successfully made the transition from critic to playwright when his play '' Plague Over England'' was staged at the

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world p ...

in Earl's Court. Set in 1950s England, the play takes a look back at the arrest of the actor

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

for homosexual soliciting at the height of his fame. The play was an instant hit and sold out for its run at the Finborough. In 2009, the play transferred to the West End. Following the success of his first play, he resigned from his post at the ''Evening Standard'' to pursue a full-time writing career. He has also written two books: ''Not in Front of the Audience'' (1992), a study of the depiction of homosexuality in English drama, and ''Politics, Pruderies and Perversions'' (2000), a history of British theatrical censorship.

Education

De Jongh was a student at

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. While a student there, he was part of the team that made the semi-finals in the 1966–7 series of ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

''.

References

Living people British dramatists and playwrights British theatre critics British male dramatists and playwrights English people of Jewish descent 1944 births {{UK-playwright-stub