“Graham has time and time again proved he has the ability to shed light on what is happening in our current political landscape by shining a light on our not-so distant past.” – from How James Graham became Britain’s most important playwright

We are delighted to be joined by the award winning playwright and television writer James Graham for the next in our series of “Inspired in Hull” lectures.

Inspired in Hull with James Graham
Book here
Gulbenkian Centre, University of Hull | Thursday 8th February | 18:00

Since graduating from Drama in 2003, James has established himself as a significant figure in the landscape of contemporary British Theatre, with sell out shows in the West End receiving great critical acclaim. His plays focus on significant political and cultural moments in recent British history, such as the fall of the Callaghan Government in 1979 (This House) or Rupert Murdoch changing the shape of British media with his takeover of The Sun newspaper (Ink), which he uses to comment on our present.

“I stole from Shakespeare the idea that you can examine what’s happening today by looking at events from the recent past. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?” he says in an interview in the Telegraph.

James has also achieved great success outside of theatre. He has won the Writers’ Guild Best First Screenplay Award for the movie X + Y, received plaudits for Channel 4 drama Coalition which retells the drama of the 2010 General Election and the formation of the Coalition government, and he wrote the book for Finding Neverland, the musical by Gary Barlow, which opened in Boston in Summer 2014 and transferred to Broadway in Spring 2015.

For a brief taste of James’ writing watch this episode of The Guardian’s Brexit Shorts with Joanna Scanlan.

Take advantage of this opportunity to meet the foremost playwright of his generation and one of the most significant writers currently working in British theatre. To join us for a unique insight into Britain’s contemporary cultural and political worlds book here or email alumni@hull.ac.uk

If you are interested in seeing one of James’ plays, we will also be going to Hull Truck Theatre to see one of his latest plays The Culture, which is a comedy about Hull’s year as City of Culture 2017. More details here.