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Mike Leigh

MIKE LEIGH  (1943 - )

 Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    United Agents  


Mike Leigh was born20 Feb 1943 in Salford, Lancashire is is a British writer and director of film and theatre. Between 1960-70 he trained at the Royal academy of Dramatic art, at Camberwell and Central art Schools and at the London Film School. He also gained wide acting and directing experience including aseason with the Royal Shakespeare Company. His first original play evolved from improvisation at Birmingham in 1965. He was honoured by the French Government in January 1998 when he received the Ordre des artes et Lettres. aBIGaIL'S PaRTY was given a 25th anniversary revival at the Hampstead Theatre in a co-production with Theatre Royal Bath, July 2002. The Production Transferred to The New ambassadors Theatre on Dec 4th 2002 and was nominated for an Olivier award in the Best Revival Category before transferring to the Whitehall Theatre and touring nationally.

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

 Abigail's Party         Babies Grow Old         Big Basil         Bleak Moments         Box Play, The         Career Girls         Dick Whittington And His Cat         Down Here And Up There         Ecstasy         Epilogue         Goose Pimples         Greek Tragedy         Grief         Individual Fruit Pies         It's A Great Big Shame         Jaws Of Death, The         Last Crusade Of The Five Little Nuns, The         My Parents Have Gone To Carlisle         Naked         Nenaa         Rancid Pong, A         Silent Majority, The         Smelling A Rat         Two Thousand Years         Waste Paper Guards         Wholesome Glory

Abigail's Party

Synopsis:
Sharply wicked social satire on lower middle class suburbia leads to dramatic denouement

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1979   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Babies Grow Old

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Stratford-on-avon    1974

Organisations:
RSC

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

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Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Big Basil

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Manchester    1969

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

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Further Reference:
-

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Bleak Moments

Synopsis:
Bleak Moments looks at the 'tortured, semi-articulated anguish' in suburban South Norwood, between Sylvia, and her retarded sister Hilda; Sylvia's friend at work, Pat; a teacher, Peter, Sylvia's reticent, prospective boy-friend; and Norman, a 'gormless hippie'.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Open Space theatre, London    1970

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
75 min play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Box Play, The

Synopsis:
first stage play and was developed using the process of improvisation and collaboration with his cast that was to become the hallmark of Leigh's later work

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Career Girls

Mike Leigh
Two young women who shared a flat together in university re-unite after six years. as they re-acquaint themselves with each other, their past comes flooding back to them. In the course of their weekend they come face to face with others from their past and have to confront the inadequacy of their lives and the diminishment of their dreams. Career Girls is a moving, yet also hilarious, depiction of friendship, in which the humour is suffused with an unsentimental tenderness.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1997   978-0571194049

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Film Script

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dick Whittington And His Cat

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1973

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Down Here And Up There

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ecstasy

Mike Leigh
Jean works in a garage and consoles herself with drink and perfunctory sex. Jean's insistent neighbour Dawn and Dawn's Irish labourer husband, Mick, and Mick's spineless mucker, Len, all join her in a funny, drunken, sad celebration of their mutual affection and bleak lives.

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
black comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Epilogue

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Manchester    1969

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Goose Pimples

Synopsis:
non English speaking arab made but of cruel jokes in misunderstanding at flat which he thinks is brothel

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Samuel French, London, 1982   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Improvisational comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Greek Tragedy

Synopsis:
The play runs for one hour and twenty minutes without an interval and concerns the troubled relationship of a Greek couple alex and Calliope.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Belvoir Street,Sydney    1989

Organisations:
Company B

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Grief

Mike Leigh
1957. War widow Dorothy lives in a London suburb with her 15-year-old daughter Victoria and her older bachelor brother Edwin. More and more isolated from her married friends with their successful children, Dorothy tries to cope with Victoria's increasingly hostile behaviour. But is she doing her best, as she thinks, or is she in fact responsible for what threatens to become an unendurable situation?

Notes:
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1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Individual Fruit Pies

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Loughton, Essex    1968

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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It's A Great Big Shame

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Jaws Of Death, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Edinburgh    1973

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Last Crusade Of The Five Little Nuns, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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My Parents Have Gone To Carlisle

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Naked

Mike Leigh
Few directors in contemporary cinema have laid bare the divisions, misunderstandings and grievances of our society with such skill and rigour as Mike Leigh. Naked is perhaps his most daring achievement, and was hugely acclaimed at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. It's a drama that offers an unlovely vision of London and its denizens, one which many people would rather ignore. Leigh's protagonist Johnny is a consummate nineties anti-hero: full of spleen and repellence, cruelly funny, seemingly callous and careless, yet capable of startling passion and fellow-feeling. In Naked, violence and gentleness, comedy and tragedy go hand in hand, amid a landscape inhabited by the kind of raw drawn-from-life characters only Mike Leigh can create.

Notes:
Naked; Life Is Sweet; High Hopes

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Faber and Faber, London, 1995   978-0571202645

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Film Script

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Nenaa

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Stratford-on-avon    1967

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Rancid Pong, A

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
London    1971

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Silent Majority, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Smelling A Rat

Mike Leigh
Returning home unexpectedly from holiday, Rex Weasel, owner of the Vermination Pest Control Company, hides in a wardrobe when he hears intruders. It's his employee Vic Maggot with his wife out on a spree - but they also have to hide when Weasel's gormless son turns up with his garrulous girlfriend. The comedy frantically approaches farce, but the drama is continuously underscored by Leigh's trademark ability to create conversations that are both painful and hilarious in their banal accuracy.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Farce

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Two Thousand Years

Mike Leigh
a funny but warmly touching story of secular Jewish parents struggling to cope with their son's fierce new dedication to the Hebrew faith. Set against recent world events over the last couple of years, this is a strongly-cast evening to delight and enthral, but one that also reflects our loss of ideals.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
NT

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Waste Paper Guards

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wholesome Glory

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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