Name Tim Firth Role Dramatist | Spouse Katy Firth | |
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Born 1964 (age 50–51) Wirral, Merseyside Occupation Dramatist, Screenwriter, Songwriter Books The Safari Party, A man of letters Children Joe Firth, Georgia Firth, Jack Firth Plays Calendar Girls, Neville's island, Our House Similar People Nigel Cole, Tracey Jackson, Gary Barlow, P J Hogan, Juliette Towhidi | ||
Gary barlow and tim firth team up to launch new musical the girls
Tim Firth (born October 13, 1964) is an English dramatist, screenwriter and songwriter.
Contents
- Gary barlow and tim firth team up to launch new musical the girls
- Tim firth extended bop solo at sydney drummers initiative clinic
- Life and career
- Theatre work
- Selected filmography as writer or co writer
- Television films
- References
Tim firth extended bop solo at sydney drummers initiative clinic
Life and career
Firth was born in Warrington, Cheshire, in the North West of England. He spent most of his time at his Warrington comprehensive school writing songs and it was only a couple of months before going to Cambridge to read English that he attended an Arvon Foundation course in West Yorkshire. This was run by Willy Russell and whilst on it, Firth had to write dialogue. He wrote about the only thing he knew - two sixteen-year-olds trying to write a song. Another course participant optioned it for his production company and Firth decided to become a writer. While at Cambridge he joined the Footlights where his contemporaries included David Baddiel who later invited him to contribute music to The Mary Whitehouse Experience on BBC radio. His first plays at this time were all directed by Sam Mendes.
On leaving Cambridge, he wrote and composed music for Radio Four series And Now In Colour but was soon invited to meet Alan Ayckbourn in Scarborough and commissioned to write a play for the studio at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. His one-act play A Man Of Letters was a success and led to the commissioning of a full-length play from Ayckbourn, Neville's Island, which later transferred to the West End and has been seen in translation all round the world and has been in almost continuous production since its premier.
During two successive Christmas runs, the stage version of his TV film The Flint Street Nativity at the Liverpool Playhouse became the most successful Christmas production in the theatre's history.
His play Calendar Girls, adapted by Firth from his own film, found favour with audiences across the UK during its 2008/09 tour, and in the process broke the all time British box office record for a play and also continued to sell out during its West End residency. In 2010, the hit comedy embarked on a UK country wide tour, one of the largest ever for a play.
2013 marked the premiere of Firth's first solo musical, This Is My Family for which he wrote book, lyrics and music. Directed by Daniel Evans, it premiered at the Crucible Theatre on 19 June 2013, and then embarked on a UK national tour, starting at the Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield in October 2014. This Is My Family won the UK Theatre Award for Best New Musical and Sian Phillips won Best Supporting Actress.
Firth and Gary Barlow co-wrote The Girls based on the 2003 film Calendar Girls. Directed by Roger Haines and Tim Firth, the new musical opened at the Grand Theatre, Leeds in November 2015. The musical then moved to The Lowry in Manchester in January 2016. The Girls opened in the West End at the Phoenix Theatre on 21 February 2017. In all The Girls ran for 60 sell out performances, complete with 60 standing ovations, and was seen by just under 100,000 people.
In 2004 Firth released a solo album, Harmless Flirting, completing a tour of words and music with fellow playwright Willy Russell that won positive reviews at the Edinburgh Festival.
In March 2010, Firth was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Chester.