born April 12, 1939, London, Eng.
British playwright.
He began acting with the Stephen Joseph Co. in Scarborough, Yorkshire, where he also wrote his earliest plays under the pseudonym Roland Allen (1959–61). Most of his plays premiered at the company's theatre, where he was artistic director beginning in 1970. He has written over 50 plays, mostly farces and comedies that deal with marital and class conflicts, including Relatively Speaking (1967), Absurd Person Singular (1972), the trilogy The Norman Conquests (1973), Intimate Exchanges (1982), and Communicating Doors (1995).