Sharman Macdonald

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sharman Macdonald

Born	February 8, 1951 (1951-02-08) (age 57) Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Occupation	Playwright, screenwriter, former actress
Nationality	Scottish
Writing period	1984-present
Genres	Drama, fiction, libretto, radio drama, screenplay
Subjects	Mother/daughter relationships
Spouse(s)	Will Knightley (1976-)
Children	Caleb Knightley (b.1979) Keira Knightley (b.1985)

Sharman Macdonald (born 8 February 1951) is a Scottish playwright and former actress.

1 Career
2 Personal life
3 Selected writings
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Career

While working as an actress, Macdonald wrote her first play, When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout; it was first performed at the Bush Theatre in 1984, and won her the Evening Standard Award for most promising playwright. Some of the themes in Scream and Shout were inspired by games that her son, Caleb, played with his friends. Of this, Macdonald has said that "it's the result of a bet, this writing life. I was desperate for a second child. Desperate never to act again. Most of all desperate to stop eating lentils, French bread and tomatoes. We were broke, Will and me. We had one child. My hormones were screaming at me to have another. So. Will bet me a child for the sale of a script".^[1]

Her other work includes The Brave, commissioned by the Bush Theatre; When We Were Women, first performed at the Cottesloe Theatre; All Things Nice, commissioned by the English Stage Company and first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1991; The Winter Guest, which was made into a film, in 1997, directed by Alan Rickman; and The Girl With Red Hair (2005), which had its first reading in August 2003.

She has written two plays for the National Theatre's Shell Connections programme; After Juliet (in which Macdonald's daughter starred as a young girl), and 2006's Broken Hallelujah.

Macdonald's resume also includes the novels The Beast (1986) and Night Night (1988), the radio plays (for the BBC) such as Sea Urchins and Gladly My Cross Eyed Bear (1999), and the libretto to Hey Persephone!, performed at Aldeburgh with music by Deirdre Gribbin.

[edit] Personal life

Macdonald was born in Glasgow, and educated at the University of Glasgow, from which she graduated in 1972. She then moved to London, where she worked as an actress with the 7:84 Theatre Company and at the Royal Court Theatre, before she left (due in large part to stage fright).^[2]

She is married to the actor Will Knightley; they have two children, Caleb and Keira Knightley.

[edit] Selected writings

When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout (1984, stage play)
The Beast (1986, gently surreal novel about a family picnic at Kenwood in Hampstead) Collins, ISBN 0002230216
The Brave (1988, stage play)
Night Night (1988, novel about a girl becoming pregnant at 15) Collins, ISBN 0002233118
When We Were Women (1988, stage play)
All Things Nice (1991, stage play)
Shades (2002, stage play)
The Winter Guest (1995, stage play)
Borders of Paradise (1995, stage play)
The Winter Guest (1997, feature film)
Sea Urchins (1998, stage play)
Sea Urchins (1998, radio play)
Hey, Persephone (1998, opera)
After Juliet (1999, stage play)
The Girl with Red Hair (2005, stage play)
Broken Hallelujah (2005, stage play)
The Edge of Love (awaiting release, feature film)