Writing Master Class

As a drama of dictatorship in art and the cleverness needed to evade its worst manifestations, Master Class has been at large for thirty years, produced in twenty countries. Threaded through this account of the inception and development of the piece are twists of authorial life-story necessary for the telling. A fascinating insight into the playwright's craft.

David Pownall is an internationally-renowned playwright. Born in Liverpool and educated at Keele University, he worked for ten years in the motor industry and Zambian copper mining before turning his attention to the theatre. He has been dramatist in residence with the Century Mobile Theatre and Duke’s Playhouse in Lancaster, and co-founded the Paines Plough Theatre Company with John Adams. His stage plays have been performed extensively, both internationally and within the UK, including runs on Broadway, and at the National Theatre, Old Vic, Wyndham and Barbican in London, and the RSC. His best-known works include Music To Murder By (1978), Livingstone and Sechele (1978), An Audience Called Edouard (1979), Master Class (1983), Elgar’s Rondo (1993), which was commissioned by the RSC, and most recently, Getting the Picture (1998). David’s many awards include the John Whiting Prize for Beef, the New York Theatre Yearbook (Best Foreign Play off Broadway) and the London Stage Directors’ Award for Livingstone and Sechele, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Awards for Music To Murder By, and for radio work, two Giles Cooper Awards and three Sony Awards. In 1976 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and Keele University made him an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2000.