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ROY SMILES

  
Nationality:    English
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    The Agency (London) Ltd  represented by Nick Quinn

Roy Smiles is a playwright and singer songwriter from West London. He is also an occasional actor. He is the author of twenty four produced stage plays. He has had plays staged in the UK, US, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Israel and Sweden. As a songwriter his first album Drunks & Dreamers was released by Red Admiral Records in March 2011. His second album Time's Moving On was released by Red Admiral Records in August 2012. As an actor he played the character of Itzak Heller in Roman Polanski's Oscar winning film the Pianist. He began his career as a stand up comic and as half of the double act Smiles & Kemp (1985-1989). As an actor he was in the original cast of A Slice Of Saturday Night staged at the Kings Head Theatre & transferring to the Arts Theatre in London's West End (1989-1991). In 1992 his first produced play Schmucks, about a fictitious meeting between Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce, was staged at the Battersea Arts Centre. Other early plays include: Top Of the Town (Kings Head Theatre 1992), Roberto Calvi Is Alive & Well (Finborough Theatre 1992) Idiot's Waltz (Finborough Theatre 1993), Danny Boy (Etcetera Theatre 1994), the Boys Of Summer (Old Red Lion Theatre 1995), the Promised Land (Kings Head Theatre 1995), Get It While You Can - A Conversation With Janis Joplin (Etcetera Theatre 1996), the Exiles (Hen & Chickens Theatre 1997), Stand Up (Old Red Lion Theatre 1999), Bombing People (Jermyn Street Theatre 2000), Sick Dictators (Jermyn Street Theatre 2001) and Lunatics' Tango (Hen & Chickens Theatre 2002). During this time he supported himself with small acting roles in television shows such as Operation Good Guys, Frank Stubbs Promotes and Peak Practice. In the cinema he played a Jewish collaborator in Roman Polanski's Oscar winning film the Pianist (2002). In 2000 he had a play writing attachment to the Royal National Theatre sponsored by playwright/director Terry Johnson. In 2004 West Yorkshire Playhouse staged Ying Tong, his story of Spike Milligan's nervous breakdown whilst writing the Goon Show, which transferred to the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End in 2005, produced by Michael Codron. It was later staged in the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In 2006 he played the lead in his play about his brief time as a stand up comic: the Ho-Ho Club alongside Sally Lindsay at the Kings Head Theatre. In 2007 Good Evening (Behind the Beyond), his story of the Beyond the Fringe team, had its world premier in South Africa. In 2007 Ying Tong received its American premier at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia. In 2008 Year Of the Rat, his story of George Orwell's attempts to write Nineteen Eighty Four, had its British premier at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 2008 Schmucks had its American premier at the Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia. Pythonesque, his play about Graham Chapman's time in the Monty Python team, had its British premier at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival. His play about Kurt Cobain's suicide: Kurt & Sid which starred Shaun Evans as Kurt Cobain and Danny Dyer as Sid Vicious, was staged at the Trafalgar Studios in London in 2009. Backstage, his screw-ball 1930's farce had its world premier at the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2009. His play about Robert F. Kennedy's attempt to run for president in 1968: the Last Pilgrim was staged at the White Bear Theatre in 2010. His musical Burlesque, co-written with Adam Megiddo, about the 1950's Communist witch-hunts in America, was staged at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2011. It won Best Musical at the Off West End Awards in 2012. the Lad Himself, his play about British radio and TV comedian Tony Hancock, was staged at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival. Four of his plays have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4: Ying Tong, Good Evening (Behind the Beyond), Pythonesque and Dear Arthur - Love John. Ying Tong, Year Of the Rat, Pythonesque and Kurt & Sid have all been published by Oberon Books. As is his book on comedic influences: Funny People.

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below is a list of Roy Smiles's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        Backstage         Baghdad Boogie         Bombing People         Boys of Summer, The         Burlesque         Court Jester, The         Danny Boy         Dinner with the Borgias         Exiles, The (Or Highgate Shuffle)         Fallen Sparrow         Get It While You Can, A Conversation With Janis Joplin         Good Evening         Ho-Ho Club         Idiot's Waltz         Jewish Girls         John Wayne's Walk         Kurt and Sid         Lad Himself, The         Last Pilgrim, The         Lost Empires         Lunatic's Tango         Maxwell the Musical         Meet the Beatles         Promised Land,the         Pythonesque         Reading Gaol         Roberto Calvi Is Alive and Well         Schmucks         Sick Dictators         Stalking         Stand-Up         Top of the Town         VIP, The         Waugh In Winter         Weight Of Days, The         What Kind Of Fool?         Working For Mammon         Year Of the Rat         Ying Tong