Artist in Residence Showcase: Henry Naylor

About

After winning 51 awards in the past decade, Henry Naylor is one of the most decorated playwrights on the English-speaking Fringe circuit. He is one of only a handful of writers to have won the Fringe First three times and has taken the top prizes at many of the world's most prestigious Fringes including Edinburgh, Adelaide, Prague, Hollywood and the IFES, New York.

His play Borders won the Best of Edinburgh (which named it as the best of 3,700+ shows) whereas Angel was both named as one of The Times' Ten Best Plays of 2016, and nominated for France's equivalent of the Golden Globes (the Globes de Cristal). His most recent show, Afghanistan Is Not Funny, was British Theatre Guide's Pick Of 2022 and won the Outstanding Production Award at the Best of All Fringes: the International Fringe Encore Series in New York.

Before becoming a playwright, Naylor had a long career as a comedian, performing and directing for TV and radio. He wrote for many leading British comedy shows, including Smith & Jones, Lenny Henry, Alistair MacGowan, Headcases and Dead Ringers. As half of Parsons and Naylor, he co-presented BBC Radio 2 topical comedy series Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections, which was one of the top-rated comedies on British radio in the noughties.

A former lead-writer on Spitting Image, his work is typically humorous and accessible, tackling difficult social and political issues with intelligence and wit. His plays have been staged in five continents and translated into seventeen languages.