Graham Reid Biography

Northern Irish playwright, born in Belfast, of a Protestant working-class family, educated at Queen's University, Belfast. His first two plays, The Death of Humpty-Dumpty, produced at the Abbey Theatre in 1979, and The Closed Door (1980), deal with the effects of the violence in Belfast upon innocent bystanders and examine how these victims are forced to realize their own involvement. The Hidden Curriculum (1982) and Remembrance (1984) have been successfully performed. Reid is best known for Billy (1982), a trilogy of plays for television concerning personal difficulties occurring within the context of civil disorder. Ties of Blood, first broadcast in 1985, explores the implications of the British Army's presence in Northern Ireland for marital and familial relationships.