Abi Morgan
Abi Morgan OBE | |
---|---|
Born | Abigail Louise Morgan 1968 (age 55–56) Cardiff, Wales |
Occupation | Screenwriter |
Period | 1998–present |
Genre | Drama |
Notable works | Sex Traffic, Brick Lane, The Hour, The Iron Lady, Shame, Suffragette |
Spouse | Jacob Krichefski |
Children | 2 |
Abigail Louise Morgan
Early life
Abigail Louise Morgan was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1968.[1][2] She is the daughter of actress Pat England and theatre director Gareth Morgan, who was director of the Gulbenkian Theatre in Newcastle upon Tyne (now the Northern Stage). Her parents divorced when she was a teenager and her childhood was spent moving around the country while her mother acted in repertory theatre; she told The Scotsman in 2010 that she had attended seven separate schools during her childhood.[3] Her sister is the fundraiser at London's Unicorn Theatre.[4]
After initial ambitions to become an actress herself, she decided to become a writer while reading drama and literature at
Writing career
Theatre
Having not dared to show any of her writing "to anyone for five years", her first professional stage credit was in 1998 with Skinned at the
Television
Morgan gained her first television writing credit in 1998 on the continuing ITV drama series Peak Practice, following that with a television play My Fragile Heart (2000) and a BBC2 drama Murder in 2002, starring Julie Walters.[4]
She was commissioned to write the single drama
Morgan's first continuing drama series was
Morgan wrote the legal drama The Split, about the private and professional lives of divorce lawyers, first shown on BBC1 in April 2018.
Film
Morgan has also written for cinema:
Her next film, The Invisible Woman, was an adaptation of the book of the same name by Claire Tomalin, about the secret love affair between Charles Dickens and Nelly Ternan, which lasted for thirteen years until his death in 1870. The film was released to critical acclaim in 2013, but its production was reportedly strained after clashes between lead actress Kristin Scott Thomas and Morgan on set, the source of which was never disclosed.[10]
A staunch opponent of Brexit, Morgan was one of nine leading playwrights to contribute to a series of online dramas in 2017 responding to the causes and consequences of the EU referendum result. Entitled Brexit Shorts, Morgan's monologue, The End, starred Penelope Wilton as a woman on the brink as she faces the consequences of the end of her 43-year-old marriage.[11]
Non Fiction
In May 2022, Morgan released a memoir entitled This Is Not a Pity Memoir, in which she discusses her husband's battle with encephalitis and Capgras delusion.[12]
Personal life
Morgan lives in the north London neighbourhood of
In January 2020, Morgan said that she was recovering from breast cancer.[15] She had chemotherapy and a mastectomy.[16]
Morgan was appointed
Selected works
Plays
- Skinned (1997)
- Sleeping Around (1998) – co-written with Mark Ravenhill, Stephen Greenhorn and Hilary Fannin
- Fast Food (1999)
- Splendour (2000)
- Tiny Dynamite (2001)
- Tender (2001)
- Monster Mum (2005)
- Fugee (2008)
- Chain Play – Production II – co-written with Neil LaBute, Mike Poulton and Tanya Ronder
- The Night is Darkest Before the Dawn (2009), as part of The Great Game: Afghanistan
- Lovesong (2011)
- 27 (2011)
- The Mistress Contract (2014)[18]
- The End (2017)
Film screenplays
- Brick Lane (2007)
- The Iron Lady (2011)
- Shame (2011)
- The Invisible Woman (2013)
- Suffragette (2015)
TV screenplays
- My Fragile Heart (2000)
- Murder (2002)
- Sex Traffic (2004)
- Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)
- Cologne Conference
- Royal Wedding (2010)
- The Hour (2011)
- Birdsong (2012)
- River (2015)
- The Split (2018, 2020, 2022)
- The Split Up (TBA) – with Ursula Rani Sarma[19]
Books
- Morgan, Abi (2022). This is Not a Pity Memoir. London: John Murray Press. OCLC 1313596963.
References
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ a b c "Writer Abi Morgan has last laugh at the Emmys". Wales Online. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
- ^ Aidan Smith, Interview: Abi Morgan, screenwriter Archived 7 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, The Scotsman, 4 May 2010.
- ^ a b c d Maggie Brown, Abi Morgan: Cometh the hour Archived 11 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Stage, 15 July 2011.
- ^ a b c Nigel Farndale, Abi Morgan interview Archived 27 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Daily Telegraph, 12 July 2011.
- ^ List of theatrical works Archived 20 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Doollee.com
- ^ "Awards Search". Television Academy. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ "Bafta Film Awards 2012: Nominations". BBC News. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
- ^ "Abi Morgan meets Bola Agbaje | Guru Encounters". BAFTA Guru. 7 October 2015. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
- ^ "What's going on between Abi Morgan and Kristin Scott Thomas?". www.standard.co.uk. 7 February 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "Leading playwrights create Brexit dramas for The Guardian". The Guardian. 19 June 2017. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ "Screenwriter Abi Morgan: 'I am absolutely the same, but profoundly changed'". The Guardian. 1 May 2022. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
- from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
- ^ a b Lewis, Helen (15 October 2015). "Abi Morgan on Suffragette: "These were voiceless women. We gave them a voice"". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ^ Ravindran, Manori (27 January 2020). "Writer Abi Morgan Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ Cripps, Charlotte (16 May 2022). "Abi Morgan interview: 'The Split is filled with a lot of the pain I've been through'". The Independent. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
- ^ "No. 62310". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 June 2018. p. B13.
- ^ "The Mistress Contract at The Royal Court Theatre". The Royal Court Theatre. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
- ^ "BBC commissions The Split Up, a spin-off from Abi Morgan's hit series The Split". bbc.co.uk/mediacentre. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
External links
- Abi Morgan at IMDb
- Theatre credits
- The Guardian