Storey, David Malcolm

Storey, David Malcolm (1933– ), English novelist and playwright, who was already well known through his books, particularly This Sporting Life (1960), when his first play, The Restoration of Arnold Middleton (1967), was staged at the Royal Court Theatre, where most of his later plays were seen. It was followed by In Celebration (1969), centring on a 40th wedding anniversary and starring Alan Bates, and the extremely successful The Contractor (1970; NY, 1973), which deals with the erection and dismantling of a marquee for a wedding reception. Both these plays were directed by Lindsay Anderson, who was also responsible for the production of several of Storey's later works. His next plays were Home (London and NY, 1970), an impressionistic play in which John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson gave fine performances as two inmates of a mental home, and The Changing Room (1971; NY, 1973), about a Rugby football team. After a symbolic drama entitled Cromwell and The Farm (both 1973), seen in New York in 1978 and 1976 respectively, came Life Class (1974; NY, 1975), again with Alan Bates in London, in which an art class provides a background for a discussion of life and art. In Sisters (1978; London, 1989) a council house is used as a brothel, and in Early Days (1980) Ralph Richardson played an elderly politician reviewing the course of his life. The last was produced at the National Theatre, as was The March on Russia (1989), later renamed Jubilee, which shows the characters from In Celebration 20 years on.