Bill Morrison Biography

Northern Irish playwright, born in Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, educated at Queen's University, Belfast. He has worked as an actor, BBC radio drama producer, and theatre director. As an Ulster playwright, Morrison is by no means unique in feeling that his work must respond to the recent troubles in Northern Ireland. His own response has involved comedy and farce arising from the belief that apparent chaos may represent the complexities of Northern Ireland. At first, Morrison's experimentations with dramatic form in plays such as The Love of Lady Margaret (1972) and Ellen Cassidy (1974) were produced only on radio. Eventually, he found access to the stage with Flying Bird (1977) and Scrap (1982), works in which he continued to approach tragedy through farce. His other plays include Maguire (1979), Shergar (1986: for TV), Be Bop a Lula (1988), and Force of Duty (1992).