John Byrne (Scottish playwright)
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| John Byrne | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 January 1940 |
| Occupation | Playwright, Artists |
John Byrne (born 6 January 1940) is a Scottish playwright and artist.
Contents |
[edit] Life
John Byrne was born to an Irish Catholic family in Paisley, Renfrewshire.[citation needed] He grew up in the Ferguslie Park housing scheme and was educated at the town's St Mirin's Academy before attending Glasgow School of Art from 1958 to 1963. Byrne has received three Honorary Doctorates: in 1997 he was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Paisley, in 2004 he was made an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and in 2006 he was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the Robert Gordon University Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen.
He currently lives in Nairn with his children, twins Xavier and Honor. He is in a polygamous relationship with his wife, and his children's mother, Academy Award winning actress Tilda Swinton.[1]
[edit] Works
[edit] Theatre
| Year | Title | Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Writer's Cramp | |
| 1979 | The Loveliest Night of the Year | |
| 1979 | Normal Service | |
| 1979-80 | Hooray for Hollywood | |
| 1980 | Babes in the Wood | |
| 1981 | Cara Coco | |
| 1982 | Colquhoun and McBryde | |
| 1978-1982 | The Slab Boys (1978) | Together they make up The Slab Boys Trilogy |
| Cuttin' a Rug (1979) | ||
| Still Life (1982) | ||
| 1984 | Candy Kisses | |
| 1985 | London Cuckolds | |
| 1997 | The Government Inspector | |
| 2004 | Uncle Varick | A comedic adaptation of the Anton Chekhov play Uncle Vanya |
| 2004 | Tutti Frutti | An adaptation of the TV Series |
| 2008 | Nova Scotia | The fourth play in the Slab Boys story |
Information take from The Playwrights Database.[2]
[edit] Television
Byrne is best known as the writer of Tutti Frutti, a 1987 television series starring Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson, and Richard Wilson, which he later turned into a play.[3] He also wrote the six-part series Your Cheatin' Heart in 1990.[4]
[edit] Art
From 1964 until 1966 he designed jackets for Penguin Books. Following unsuccessful experiences with London galleries he released (through London’s Portal Gallery) a series of works from 1967 under the pseudonym of "Patrick" he claimed were created by his father, an alleged self-taught painter of faux-naïf images.[5] These works began to meet with some success and his painting career commenced.
Byrne has also designed record covers for Donovan, The Beatles, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly. Singer-songwriter Rafferty's song Patrick is written about Byrne (the lyrics begin: "Patrick my primitive painter of art/You will always and ever be near to my heart"), and the pair co-wrote several songs together.
Recently, he illustrated Selected Stories by James Kelman, winner of the 1994 Booker Prize. His work is held in major collections in Scotland and abroad. Several of his paintings hang in The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, including portraits of Robbie Coltrane, Billy Connolly, the mother of his children, Tilda Swinton, and a self-portrait.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/apr/28/theatre
- ^ http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsB/byrne-john.html
- ^ http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/content/default.asp?page=s224
- ^ http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/content/default.asp?page=s224
- ^ "Byrne biography at Portal Gallery". http://www.portal-gallery.com/store/main_unlinked.aspx?link=true&sid=30.
