Peter Quilter is a West End and Broadway playwright whose plays have been translated into 30 languages and performed in over 40 countries. He is best known for his Broadway play ''

End of the Rainbow ''End of the Rainbow'' is a musical drama by Peter Quilter, which focuses on Judy Garland in the months leading up to her death in 1969. After a premiere in Sydney, Australia in 2005, the show has played on the West End in London and a Broadwa ...

'', which was adapted for the Oscar-winning film '' Judy'' (2019), starring

Renée Zellweger Renée Kathleen Zellweger ( ; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Renée Zellweger, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four ...

. He is also author of the West End comedy " Glorious!" about the amateur opera singer

Florence Foster Jenkins Florence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster; July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur coloratura soprano who became known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor sing ...

. Peter has twice been nominated for the

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 ...

(Best New Comedy and Best New Play) and his Broadway debut was nominated for 3 Tony Awards.

Early life

Quilter was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, England and is an honours graduate of

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

. He began his writing career from his home in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, London where he lived for 14 years before emigrating to the Spanish

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Early career

He started his career as a television presenter on

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...

. He was a presenter of the Children's BBC programme "Playdays" and also appeared as an actor on a number of TV series including "London's Burning". His first play was an all-female comedy ''Respecting Your Piers'' and he followed this with ''

The Canterville Ghost "The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts as "The Canterville Ghost – A Hylo-Idealistic Romance: The Redemptive Heroine" in '' The Court and S ...

'' a musical adaptation of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

's ''

'' which played a number one tour of the UK starring

Ron Moody Ron Moody (born Ronald Moodnick; 8 January 1924 – 11 June 2015) was an English actor, composer, singer and writer. He was best known for his portrayal of Fagin in '' Oliver!'' (1968) and its 1983 Broadway revival. Moody earned a Golden Glob ...

International success

In 1999, Quilter made his West End debut with a comedy about the pop industry, “BoyBand”. The show played a summer season at the

Gielgud Theatre The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, at the corner of Rupert Street, in the City of Westminster, London. The house currently has 994 seats on three levels. The theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and ...

and later enjoyed success in South Africa, Denmark, Estonia, Poland, and on a 60-venue tour of the Netherlands. It is currently playing at the Divadlo Nova Scena in Bratislava and recently had its Asian premiere in Tokyo Japan. In 2005, Quilter had a bigger international hit with ''

'', a musical drama about the final months in the life of

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

. It premiered at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

in Australia (winning Caroline O'Connor two Best Actress awards), and also had an award-winning run at the 2006

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

. The following year, Joop van den Ende presented a new Dutch production, which played a seven-month tour of the Netherlands culminating in performances at the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam. The show then enjoyed runs in the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and New Zealand. A new UK production opened in February 2010 at the Royal Theatre in Northampton, directed by Terry Johnson, designed by William Dudley and starring

Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett (born 17 June 1961) is an English singer and stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. She played the role of Sharon Gaskell in ''Coronation Street'' from 1982 to ...

. The show transferred to London's West End on 16 November, playing at the Trafalgar Theatre. The show opened to great critical acclaim and was featured on the front cover of The Times newspaper. The play ended its six-month run in May 2011. The show received nominations for 4

Laurence Olivier Awards 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 ...

– Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound and Best New Play. A new Spanish production opened at the Teatro Marqina in Madrid in January 2011, followed by a German production at the Hamburger Kammerspiele in June 2011 and a Brazilian production in Rio de Janeiro directed by Moeller-Botelho. In January 2012, the show had its USA debut at the

Guthrie Theater The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions among Sir Tyrone Gut ...

in Minneapolis, prior to a run on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, which began previews on 19 March. The production opened to excellent reviews, ran for 176 performances and received three Tony Award nominations including Best Actress for Bennett. The show continues to be produced frequently around the world and has had successful runs in Buenos Aires, Chicago, Montreal, Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Krakow, Berlin, Adelaide, Tel Aviv, Rome, Prague, Moscow and Amsterdam amongst many other cities. The movie '' Judy'' is an adaptation of the play. Pathé and the BBC produced the film, released in 2019, directed by

Rupert Goold Rupert Goold (born 18 February 1972) is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013). Since 2010, Goold has be ...

, and starring

and

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; 19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career ...

. Zellweger won the Oscar for Actress in a leading role. She also won the SAG, BAFTA and

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

award for her performance as Judy Garland. Peter Quilter at the London premiere of JUDY

Quilter's other major hit ''Glorious!'' also received its debut production in 2005, opening at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and transferring in November 2005 to the

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 ...

in the West End of London. The production starred the much loved comedy actress

Maureen Lipman Dame Maureen Diane Lipman (born 10 May 1946) is an English actress, columnist and comedian. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and her stage work has included appearances with the National Theatre and the Royal Shakesp ...

, was directed by Alan Strachan and produced by impresario

Michael Codron Sir Michael Victor Codron (born 8 June 1930) is a British theatre producer, known for his productions of the early work of Harold Pinter, Christopher Hampton, David Hare, Simon Gray and Tom Stoppard. He has been honoured with a Laurence Olivie ...

. ''Glorious!'' told the story of

, the worst singer in the world. It ran in London for six months and over 200 performances. The play was nominated for the

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

as Best New Comedy. ''Glorious!'' made its North American debut at

Theatre Calgary Theatre Calgary, is a theatre company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, established as a professional company in 1968. It was preceded by Workshop 14, a theatre study group founded in 1944 by Betty Mitchell. Calgary's ''Betty Mitchell'' awards are nam ...

and had its first foreign language production at the Helsinki City Theatre, under the title ''Suurenmoista!'' ''Glorious!'' has since played in over 30 countries to an estimated audience of two million people. In 2008 Quilter created a three-actor version which premiered at the Fulton Opera House, Philadelphia and also played to great success in Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. One of the most popular productions has been in Poland ("Boska") starring the legendary

Krystyna Janda Krystyna Jolanta Janda (; born 18 December 1952) is a Polish film and theatre actress, director, and singer. She is best known internationally for playing leading roles in several films by Polish film director Andrzej Wajda, including '' Man of ...

. The production has visited Chicago and New York, has toured to all major polish cities, and been broadcast live on national television. In recent years, new productions have opened in Bratislava, Caracas, Vienna, Kiev, Belgrade, Riga, Johannesburg, Budapest and Toronto. In 2016 his 3-actor play ''4000 Days'' opened at the Park Theatre in London starring

Alistair McGowan Alistair Charles McGowan (born 24 November 1964) is an English impressionist, BAFTAaward winning comic, actor, pianist, poet, and writer. He starred in '' The Big Impression'' (formerly '' Alistair McGowan's Big Impression''). He has also wor ...

. The play has had further productions in Hamburg, Sao Paulo, Pennsylvania and Prague. It toured throughout Germany in 2019 and again in 2022. In 2020, his comedy "The Hill" had its premiere at the Divadlo Ungelt in Prague and in 2021, his 2-actor comedy "Snowbound" had its premiere productions on national tours of Russia and Italy. His all-female show "Step By Step" made its debut in various countries in 2022, including runs in Barcelona and Madrid and a national tour of Holland. Meanwhile his 2-actor comedy “Duets” has played in 20 countries and has been running for over two years in Brazil. His latest play “The Dating Game” will have premiere productions in the 2024/25 season in Warsaw, Prague, Rio de Janeiro and Berlin.

Other works

His other work includes – ''The Morning After'' a modern comedy about love, sex and relationships. ''The Actress'' a theatrical comedy which had its world premiere in Rio de Janeiro in May 2015. ''Saving Jason'' a new black comedy which had its London premiere at the Park Theatre in 2016. ''Celebrity'' filmed for Polish TV as ''Rodzinny Show'' and performed on stage in Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Canada. ''Just the Ticket'' a one-woman comedy, which had its world premiere at Australia's Ensemble Theatre in February 2011. ''Curtain Up!'' an all-female comedy which has played in many European countries. ''The Nightingales'' a comedy with music which Premiered at the Contra Kreiss Theater in Bonn Germany in 2012.

References

official website for playwright Peter Quilter

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quilter, Peter English dramatists and playwrights Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English male dramatists and playwrights Writers from Colchester Alumni of the University of Leeds English emigrants to Spain