Richard Conlon (born 1965 in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

) is an English playwright. His plays for young people are published by Heinemann, an arm of

Pearson Education Pearson Education, known since 2011 as simply Pearson, is the educational publishing and services subsidiary of the international corporation Pearson plc. The subsidiary was formed in 1998, when Pearson plc acquired Simon & Schuster's educatio ...

. As well as his own original works he has adapted

Benjamin Zephaniah Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (15 April 1958 – 7 December 2023) was a British writer, dub poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry and creative writing. Over his lifetime, he was awarded 20 honorary doctorates in recognition of his c ...

’s novel ‘'Face'’ and ‘'Whispers in the Graveyard'’ by Theresa Brelsin for the stage. Both are published as play-texts for schools internationally. In 2010 he wrote ''Wasted'' for

Forest Forge Forest Forge is a British touring theatre companies based in the New Forest, England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers ...

Theatre Company. For the same company he also wrote 'The Boy At The Edge Of The Room' (for national touring) and 'Very Small And Very Far Away' (for young casts) both inspired by Lucy Lane Clifford's 'Wooden Tony'. His work has been performed by youth theatres in venues including the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Watermill (Newbury), The

Georgian Theatre Royal The Georgian Theatre Royal is a theatre and historic Georgian playhouse in the market town of Richmond, North Yorkshire, England. It is among the oldest of Britain's extant theatres. It was built in 1788 by the actor-manager Samuel Butler ...

(Richmond) and The Castle Theatre (Wellingborough). His plays have also been performed in many English-speaking countries.. During his career, Conlon has been the recipient of two

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

Awards, one of which was for the creation of ‘Hope Springs’ which has been performed in theatres across the UK, including at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. A play inspired by an article by ''Guardian'' journalist

Decca Aitkenhead Jessica "Decca" Aitkenhead (born 1971) is an English journalist, writer and broadcaster. Early life and education Aitkenhead's family lived in Wiltshire when she was born; she has three older brothers. Her father was a teacher in Bristol befor ...

. Conlon has received commissions from Farnham Maltings, Forest Forge Theatre Company,

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority for the city of Bristol, in South West England. Bristol has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1996 the council has been a unitary authority, being ...

, Take Art, The Old Vic and Somerset County Council. In 2009 he began collaborating with Hampshire's Forest Forge Theatre Company on

Lucy Clifford Lucy Clifford (2 August 1846 – 21 April 1929), better known as Mrs. W. K. Clifford, was an English novelist, playwright and journalist. Biography Lucy Clifford was born Lucy Lane in London, the daughter of John Lane of Barbados. She married ...

’s short story ‘Wooden Tony’. This turned into a play called ‘The Boy at the Edge of the Room’ which premiered in March 2013. The same short story has also been turned into a large-cast community piece called ‘Very Small and Very far Away’. Conlon is a member of the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The u ...

, NAWE (National Association of Writers in Education) and NAYT (National Association of Youth Theatres). He lives just outside the

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

town of

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...

. In 2016 he took on the role of co-Artistic Director of Winchester's Blue Apple Theatre Company.

References

Published works

* ''Hope Springs'' (2006) Heinemann * ''Face'' (2008) Heinemann * ''Whispers in the graveyard'' (2009) Heinemann * ''Paving Paradise'' (2010) Heinemann * ''The Death Of Jude Hill'' (2011) Heinemann (part of Pearson Education's ‘Heroes’ series) * ''The Emigrant's Friend'' (2013) Phoenix, Australia * ''Hope Springs - Youth Edition'' (2024) Samuel French ISBN 978-0-573-00044-7 * ''Hope Springs' (2024) Samuel French ISBN 978-0-573-00043-0'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Conlon, Richard 1965 births Living people English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights