Shaun McKenna (born 1957 in Maidstone, Kent) is an English dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter.
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Shaun studied at Maidstone Grammar School and the University of Bristol (1975–78). He was an actor for a few years, then taught drama, and began writing in his late 20s.
His early credits include Killing Camille (Paines Plough, Old Red Lion 1990, a rehearsed reading directed by Kathy Burke). He began an association with Michael Napier Brown at the Royal Theatre, Northampton for whom he adapted Richard Llewellyn’s How Green Was My Valley (1990) in which Aled Jones made his acting debut, and R. F. Delderfield’s To Serve Them All My Days (1992). He subsequently wrote an original drama, Ruling Passions, which was presented at the Royal in 1995.
He wrote the Book for the arena spectacular Ben Hur Live based on the novel by Lew Wallace which premiered at the O2 arena in September 2009.[1] He is currently adapting Charles Dance's screenplay for Ladies in Lavender for the stage and working with The Generating Company devising a new circus show, Soho Circus.[2]
Musical theatre credits include Maddie (Salisbury Playhouse 1996, West End 1997)[3] which he wrote with Steven Dexter and Stephen Keeling. He wrote the Book for Lautrec (West End 2000),[4] collaborating with Charles Aznavour. Also that year, he and Stephen Keeling contributed additional material for La Cava. He wrote Book and Lyrics for the large scale stage adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (Toronto 2006, West End 2007)[5] with Matthew Warchus.
In 2004, Shaun's musical adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, with music by Leighton James House and lyrics by Shaun McKenna. An album of songs was released in 2009, prior to a new production.[6]
In 2005 Shaun and Stephen Keeling wrote Heidi, entwining the famous children’s story and the life of its creator Johanna Spyri, which was first performed in an open-air production in Walenstadt, Switzerland. Heidi II, a sequel, followed in 2007 and 2008. Heidi III, a prequel, has been commissioned[7]
He co-wrote Murder Mystery Musical [8] with Alister Cameron and composer Richard Brown, which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2009.
For ITV Shaun McKenna has written The Crooked Man[9] (2003, a feature directed by David Drury for ARG), and the two part thriller Like Father, Like Son (2005, directed by Nick Laughland for Ecosse Films).[10] He also wrote episodes for the last three series of Heartbeat.[11] He has several other TV projects in development.
He has written both original and adapted radio dramas for BBC Radio: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1993), Meeting Jack (1995), The Ghost Train (1997), East of Eden (Classic Serial, 2000), Me and Little Boots (2000) a comedy about Caligula’s horse with Leslie Phillips, Smiles of a Summer Night (2001) with Samuel West and Nicholas Farrell, Seawyf and Biscuit (2002), The Cry of the Owl (2002), a World Service adaptation of Mrs. Warren's Profession (2002) with an all-star cast, and the radio adaptation of To Serve Them All My Days (2005). He adapted four of the eight John le Carré George Smiley novels featured in BBC Radio Four's "Complete Smiley" season - A Murder of Quality, The Looking Glass War, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Honourable Schoolboy(2009–2010), all of which have been released on BBC audiobooks.[12]
For Oberon Books, Shaun has edited eight books of scenes for actors.[13]