born Oct. 26, 1930, Barnsley, Yorkshire, Eng.
British playwright.
He studied architecture at Cambridge and the Edinburgh College of Art. His plays mix poetry and songs with colloquial speech in a boldly theatrical manner and involve strong conflicts purposely left unresolved. Arden's works include All Fall Down (1955), Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959), The Workhouse Donkey (1963), Vandaleur's Folly (1978), and the radio series Whose Is the Kingdom? (1988).