Noël Antony Miller Greig (25 December 1944 – 9 September 2009) was a British playwright most noted for his work in radical gay theatre. Greig wrote over 50 plays, as well as directing and producing numerous companies both in the United Kingdom and around the world. Greig grew up in

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, and was educated at The Skegness Grammar School, then at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. In 1968, inspired by the London

Arts Lab The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane, London. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK, continental Europe and Australia, includ ...

, he started a mixed media arts centre called the Brighton Combination, with Jenny Harris and Ruth Marks. One of the hallmarks of Greig's plays is their demonstration of gay liberation themes, with characters who choose to actively assert their gay identities. Among several productions, two were directed by Nancy Diuguid: in 1979, ''The Dear Love of Comrades'', about the 19th-century socialist utopian, and early LGBT activist,

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rights and prison reform whilst advocating vegetarianism and taking a stance against vivise ...

; and, in 1980, ''Angels Descend On Paris'', concerning the Nazi persecution of gays and Jews. John M. Clum notes that the gay characters in Greig's ''As Time Goes By'' "move...from acquiescence of their status as outsiders or criminals to militant assertion of their gay identity, the beginning of gay liberation". Greig also released the antiwar song "Stand Together" in 1979.

References

External links

Unfinished Histories - interview with Noel Greig on Alternative Theatre
1944 births 2009 deaths People educated at The Skegness Grammar School Alumni of King's College London 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights {{UK-playwright-stub