Biography

Brendan Murray grew up in Salford, Lancashire, the youngest of five children. Following a degree in Drama (Huddersfield Polytechnic, 1978) he trained as an actor at Drama Studio London before working in regional repertory, theatre for young people, commercial touring, fringe and television.

Between 1982 and 1985 he was Head of Theatre-in-Education at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, writing and directing plays for schools, the studio theatre and the main stage. In addition, he has directed professional productions for The Brighton Festival/Glyndebourne, The Oval House, Doctor Fosters, The Crucible Studio, The Man In The Moon, Drayton Court Theatre, Theatre 503, The Hen & Chickens, The Minerva Theatre, Chichester, The Albany Theatre, Deptford and Oxfordshire Theatre Company.

Teaching includes work for The Department of Education, The Central School of Speech and Drama, Sheffield Hallam University, Rose Bruford College, The Actors' Institute, Oxford School of Drama and Drama Studio London, where he is an Associate Director. He has also run workshops for South Yorkshire Writers and Ransom Productions, Belfast.

He was Writer-in-Residence at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (1989/90), under the ACGB Resident Dramatist Attachment Scheme and since that time has undertaken commissions for Eastern Angles, New Perspectives, Glyndebourne Education, The Crucible Studio, Solent Peoples Theatre, Greenwich and Lewisham Young Peoples Theatre, Theatre Centre, The Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Hijinx Theatre Company, The Albany Theatre, The Unicorn Theatre For Children, SNAP, The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, The Grand Theatre, Blackpool, Polka, Red Ladder, Jersey Arts Centre, Oxfordshire Theatre Company and BBC Network radio. His work has been produced throughout the UK as well as in The Republic of Ireland, Holland, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Austria and the USA.

In 1997 he was awarded an Arts Council Bursary and nominated for a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Children's Play and was runner-up for the John Whiting Award in 2000. In 2001 he won The Brian Way Award and in 2009 The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Play: Children & Young People. He was the Visiting Gulbenkian Fellow at King's College Hospital (2002-03) and Artistic Director of Oxfordshire (Touring) Theatre Company from 2003 to 2008.