Death of England: Delroy

Description

Me jumping out of the van, was the beginning of a very bad day for me. I just didn't know it, but I was going to know it, in about four minutes, I was going to know, fer trut. 2020. Delroy is arrested on his way to the hospital. Filled with anger and grief, he recalls the moments and relationships that gave him hope before his life was irrevocably changed. Written in response to their play Death of England, Death of England: Delroy is a new standalone work by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, which follows a Black working-class man searching for truth and confronting his relationship with White Britain. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere of Death of England: Delroy, at the National Theatre in 2020. The production was the first play to reopen the theatre following the Coronavirus pandemic.

Roy Williams, OBE, worked as an actor before turning to writing full-time in 1990. He graduated from Rose Bruford in 1995 with a first class BA Hons degree in Writing and participated in the 1997 Carlton Television screenwriter's course. The No Boys Cricket Club (Theatre Royal, Stratford East, 1996) won him nominations for the TAPS Writer of the Year Award 1996 and for New Writer of the Year Award 1996 by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. He was the first recipient of the Alfred Fagon Award 1997 for Starstruck (Tricycle Theatre, London, 1998), which also won the 31st John Whiting Award and the EMMA Award 1999. Lift Off (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 1999) was the joint winner of the George Devine Award 2000. His other plays include: Night and Day (Theatre Venture, 1996); Josie's Boys (Red Ladder Theatre Co., 1996); Souls (Theatre Centre, 1999); Local Boy (Hampstead Theatre, 2000); The Gift (Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre, 2000); Clubland (Royal Court, 2001), winner of the Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award for the Most Promising Playwright; Fallout (Royal Court Theatre, 2003) which was made for television by Company Pictures/Channel 4; Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (National Theatre, 2002, 2004), Little Sweet Thing (New Wolsey, Ipswich/ Nottingham Playhouse/Birmingham Rep, 2005), Slow Time (National Theatre Education Department tour, 2005), Days of Significance (Swan Theatre, Stratfordupon- Avon, 2007), Absolute Beginners (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 2007), Joe Guy (Tiata Fahodzi/Soho Theatre, 2007), Baby Girl (National Theatre, 2007), Out of the Fog (Almeida Theatre, 2007), There's Only One Wayne Matthews (Polka Theatre, 2007), Category B (Tricycle Theatre, 2009) and Sucker Punch (Royal Court, 2010). He also contributed A Chain Play (Almeida Theatre, 2007) and Sixty Six (Bush Theatre, 2011). His screenplays include Offside, winner of a BAFTA for Best Schools Drama 2002. His radio plays include Tell Tale, Homeboys, Westway, which was broadcast as part of Radio 4 First Bite Young Writers' Festival, To Sir with Love, and The Interrogation. He also wrote Babyfather for BBC TV. He was awarded the OBE for Services to Drama in the 2008 Birthday Honours List. Clint Dyer: On stage he has worked with heralded directors like Mike Leigh, Simon Mcburney, Dominic Cooke, Micheal Attenbourgh, Jane Howel, Ian Brown, Mike Bradwell, Madani Yohonis, Gbolahan Obesisan, Dawn Walton, and the legendary Philip Hedley, etc. He starred on stage in the National Theatres Oliver winning show Ma Rainey's Black Bottom directed by Dominic Cook, for which he won best actor in the I.A.R.Awards. Clint won Best actor at the British Urban Film Awards, Screen Nation Film and Television Awards, Liege International Film Festival and The Texas Black Film Festival for 'SUS' . He was also nominated for the Independent Spirit Award at the Screen Nation Film and Television Awards for 'SUS'. Clint directed the Olivier, Evening Standard, TMA and What's On Theatre Goers, nominated show 'THE BIG LIFE', at TRSE, bringing it to the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, makingmit the first Black British musical to go the West End. Also the soon to be seen 'The Happy Tragedy Of Being Woke' which Clint has written and will co-direct with Simon Mcburney for Complicite. Alongside this he is currently development with the BFI on a Raquel Delahay script called 'Ciara'. As a writer, Clint is under commission with BBC Films , Theatre Royal Stratford East and The Royal National Theatre.

Impassioned and insightful * The Stage * A blazing performance snuffed out too soon * Telegraph * In this furious, funny shout of a play, one black Londoner explores the racism encoded both in British institutions and in his relationships with his white best friend and girlfriend. It's an urgent, timely solo work, performed with firecracker energy and a blend of charm and rage * Evening Standard * A commanding physical performance * Times * Dyer and Williams have delivered a play we urgently need, and one we'll likely be talking about for years to come, when the closure of London's theatres will be a distant memory * Time Out * The writing glitters ... brash and brilliant theatre * Guardian *