Robert Holman
Encyclopedia
Robert Holman is a British dramatist whose work has been produced since the 1970s at the RSC
, the West End, Royal Court Theatre
and elsewhere in the UK. He has been resident dramatist at both the Royal Shakespeare Company
and the National Theatre
.
, Caryl Churchill
or David Hare
– Holman writes neither issue plays nor ones which lead audiences to predetermined ideological ends. His plays are often set in specific landscapes, with scenes set out of doors preferred over domestic interiors. Recurring tropes in his plays include the family, intergenerational relationships and meetings between strangers. Academic commentary on Holman's work is scarce. Critical reaction has wavered from the enthusiastic and respectful to the bemused, the latter especially when his 1984 play Other Worlds featured a talking monkey.
Holman's work has been produced at a variety of venues since the early 1970s. The venues for the premiers of these plays tended to be subsidised new writing theatres such as the Royal Court and the Bush Theatre
, as well as the studio spaces of the Royal Shakespeare Company
. In 1999 his trilogy of short plays Making Noise Quietly was revived by the Oxford Stage Company
in the West End
at the Whitehall Theatre. In 2003, as well as the premier of a new play at Chichester
, there was a major retrospective of his work at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Holman is an acknowledged inspiration for some of the younger generation of British playwrights, including David Eldridge
and Simon Stephens
. It has been reported that he has been writing a play in collaboration with these two dramatists
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
, the West End, Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
and elsewhere in the UK. He has been resident dramatist at both the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
and the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
.
Career and Reputation
Holman was brought up on a farm in North Yorkshire and worked as a bookshop assistant in Paddington station for 3 years after leaving school before receiving an Arts Council bursary in 1974. Since then, he has written plays which have impressed critics, directors and actors, without ever becoming what might be termed a fashionable writer. His plays tend to concentrate on the emotional lives of seemingly ordinary people, although he writes in his 1992 novel The Amish Landscape that "Most people think they live ordinary lives, but nobody's life is ordinary, is it?" Unlike more obviously politically committed writers – for example Edward BondEdward Bond
Edward Bond is an English playwright, theatre director, poet, theorist and screenwriter. He is the author of some fifty plays, among them Saved , the production of which was instrumental in the abolition of theatre censorship in the UK...
, Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...
or David Hare
David Hare (playwright)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
– Holman writes neither issue plays nor ones which lead audiences to predetermined ideological ends. His plays are often set in specific landscapes, with scenes set out of doors preferred over domestic interiors. Recurring tropes in his plays include the family, intergenerational relationships and meetings between strangers. Academic commentary on Holman's work is scarce. Critical reaction has wavered from the enthusiastic and respectful to the bemused, the latter especially when his 1984 play Other Worlds featured a talking monkey.
Holman's work has been produced at a variety of venues since the early 1970s. The venues for the premiers of these plays tended to be subsidised new writing theatres such as the Royal Court and the Bush Theatre
Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is based in Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 above The Bush public house by Brian McDermott, and has since become one of the most celebrated new writing theatres in the world. An intimate venue renowned for its close-up...
, as well as the studio spaces of the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. In 1999 his trilogy of short plays Making Noise Quietly was revived by the Oxford Stage Company
Headlong (group)
Headlong is a British theatre company noted for reworking plays of the past and commissioning new work. It was previously called Anvil Productions and then the Oxford Stage Company...
in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
at the Whitehall Theatre. In 2003, as well as the premier of a new play at Chichester
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
, there was a major retrospective of his work at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Holman is an acknowledged inspiration for some of the younger generation of British playwrights, including David Eldridge
David Eldridge (dramatist)
David Eldridge is an English dramatist, born in Romford, Greater London, United Kingdom in 1973.His plays have been performed at major new writing institutions in the UK, including The Royal Court Theatre, the Bush Theatre, the Finborough Theatre and the National Theatre...
and Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens
Simon Stephens is an English playwright.Hailing originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester, he is now an increasingly significant voice in English theatre. His plays are often humane explorations of family life...
. It has been reported that he has been writing a play in collaboration with these two dramatists
Plays
- The Grave Lovers (1972)
- Progress in Unity (MiddlesbroughMiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
Town Hall, 1972) - Coal (1973)
- The Nature Cause (Cockpit TheatreCockpit Theatre (Marylebone)The Cockpit Theatre is a Fringe Theatre in Marylebone, London. The Cockpit Theatre was designed by Edward Mendelsohn built in 1969-70 by the Inner London Education Authority as a community theatre and is notable as London's first purpose built Theatre In The Round, since the Great Fire of London...
, 1974) - Mud (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1974)
- Outside the Whale (Traverse TheatreTraverse TheatreThe Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...
, 1976) - German Skerries (Bush Theatre, 1977)
- Rooting (Traverse Theatre, 1979)
- The Estuary (Bush Theatre, 1980)
- Chance of a Lifetime (BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
, 1980) - Other Worlds (Royal Court, 1983)
- Today (RSC, 1984)
- The Overgrown Path (Royal Court Theatre, 1985)
- This is History Gran (BBC, 1986)
- Being Friends (Bush Theatre, 1986)
- Lost (Bush Theatre, 1986)
- Making Noise Quietly (Bush Theatre, 1987)
- Across Oka (RSC, 1988)
- Rafts and Dreams (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1990)
- Bad Weather (RSC, 1998)
- Holes in the Skin (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2003)
- Jonah and Otto (Royal Exchange Theatre, 2008)