Biography of Harry Derbyshire

Having grown up in Stockport near Manchester, Harry went to the University of Warwick to study English with Theatre Studies. While there he directed the devised piece The Raisin Show and his play The Remarkable Ralph Nugent Affair (1993), co-written with Jim Birkett, was performed. He and Birkett are also the authors of Life is Pain and Scenes of Terror, both as yet unperformed. As a postgraduate student Harry contributed material to and directed Hurt Me (Ideally by Punching Me in the Face), a sketch show performed at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe starring Tony MacMurray, Karen Taylor and Stephen Merchant. Harry went on to gain a PhD from King's College, London for a thesis on the reception of Harold Pinter's later work. Between 2000 and 2005 Harry was the writer with sob theatre company, acting as dramaturg for sob's productions of The Fire Raisers (BAC, 2001) and The Duchess of Suffolk (Globe Theatre Education, 2001), and providing scripts for the devised pieces Go the Way your Blood Beats (Hoxton Hall, 2000), sob stories (BAC, 2002) and Refrain (BAC, 2003-4, Resonance FM, 2005). Now lecturing in English and Drama at the University of Greenwich, Harry continues to write for the stage; his latest project is entitled The Bomb.