Howard Brenton, 1977 (photo)

Howard Brenton (born 1942) English playwright known for left-wing. state of the nation plays such as Brassneck, written with David Hare (1973) and Weapons of Happiness (1976). He gained notoriety with The Romans in Britain, staged at the National Theatre in 1980, which drew parallels between the Roman invasion of Britain in 54BC and the British military presence in Northern Ireland; but it was a scene depicting the attempted anal rape of a Druid which caused moral outrage. His political comedy Pravda (1985), written with David Hare, was an attack on Rupert Murdoch's press empire. In a later play about Harold Macmillan, Never So Good, he seems to have shifted away from his former hard-left politics. He has won several theatre awards.