Campton, David

David Campton was a prolific dramatist who wrote more than 120 plays for the stage, screen and radio. A contemorary of Pinter and Aychbourn, his works have been performed on the professional and amateur stage for the past fifty years. Campton was born in Leicester in 1924 and educated at Wyggeston Grammar School, Leicester. After leaving school he worked as clerk in the Leicester Education Department, but left in 1949 to join the East Midlands Gas Board. He served with the Royal Air Force from 1942 to 1945 and in the Fleet Air Arm from 1945 to 1946. During the early 1950s Campton started writing for the amateur theatre, in particular, the Leicester Drama Society and the Vaughan Players (where a young Joe Orton was starting his acting career). However, it was not until the mid 1950s when Campton met the theatrical producer Stephen Joseph that his professional writing career was launched. Joseph, whose radical scheme for theatre-in-the-round found an unlikely home in Scarborough's public library, produced Campton's work 'Dragon's are Dangerous' in summer of 1955. The collaboration proved successful and Campton continued to work closely with Joseph, and his protege Alan Ayckbourn, at the Library Theatre until Joseph's death in 1967. Not content with writing, Campton was also a keen actor, appearing in his own productions and those of his peers. In 1959 he appeared in a production of Harold Pinter's 'The Birthday Party' at the Theatre Centre in Birmingham with Ayckbourn and Pinter. In 1956 Campton left the Gas Board and started writing for television, securing a contract with Associated-Rediffusion to wrote children's programmes. This was supplemented in 1958 with an Arts Council bursary. After winning the award, Campton became one the country's most prolific playwrights, with over 100 one-act plays and 20 full length stage plays having been produced, including a number of pieces written especially for schools and youth theatres. He also adapted many of his plays for radio and television. An exponent of the Theatre of the Absurd, Campton's work during the 1950s and 1960s is often likened to that of Pinter and Beckett, although he did not enjoy the same national recongnition as peers. A popular dramatist amongst amateur theatre groups, he also had successes in the West End with 'One over the Eight' and 'One the Brighter Side' and received prizes from the British Theatre Association in 1975, 1978 and 1985. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Leicester. He died in September 2006.

From the guide to the The David Campton Collection, 1956-2005, (University of Leicester)

David Campton (1924-2006) was a prolific British dramatist inspired by the Theatre of the Absurd. Campton penned works for adult, youth and children’s theatre as well as radio and television productions. In addition to one-act plays and sketches, Campton penned full length plays, literary adaptations, and the text, Becoming a Playwright.

Born in Leicester, England to parents David and Emily Campton on June 5, 1929, Campton first received recognition as a playwright in 1950 when his play Going Home was performed by an amateur theatre company. In 1955, Campton met producer Stephen Joseph who would go on to produce Dragons are Dangerous, considered Campton’s break-through work. One of the first British playwrights to embrace the style known as the Theatre of the Absurd, Campton received numerous honors throughout his career, including the British Arts Council Bursary for Playwriting in 1957 and the British Theatre Association Meyer-Whitworth Prize for Everybody’s Friend (1975), After Midnight, Before Dawn (1978), and Mrs. Meadowsweet (1985).

From the guide to the David Campton papers, 1960-1974., (Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)