My Journey: James Graham
James Graham’s relationship with the National Youth Theatre runs from alumnus to commissioned playwright. The NYT counts him among its alumni writers. In 2008, when he was 26, the company commissioned his political comedy Tory Boyz, after artistic director Paul Roseby approached him to write about former prime minister Edward Heath. Graham has admitted he was apprehensive at first, as Heath did not seem that interesting to him. The play premiered at Soho Theatre, performed by the NYT. Two years later the NYT staged his Relish, about Alexis Soyer, often called the first celebrity chef, directed by Roseby at the Tramshed in Shoreditch. In 2013 the NYT asked him to update Tory Boyz for its West End season at the Ambassadors Theatre.
James Graham was discovered by London’s Finborough Theatre, where he became playwright-in-residence. His play Albert’s Boy won him the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006 and was later adapted for BBC Radio 4, and Eden’s Empire won the Catherine Johnson Award. The Whisky Taster followed at the Bush Theatre in 2010.
His breakthrough came with This House (2012) at the National Theatre, for which the Cottesloe was transformed into the House of Commons chamber. It earned an Olivier nomination. Later plays include Ink, which won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play and six Tony nominations, Best of Enemies, which won a Critics’ Circle Award, and Labour of Love in the West End.
Dear England won the 2024 Olivier Award for Best New Play and became a BBC drama series. On screen he has written Quiz, Brexit: An Uncivil War, Sherwood and Brian and Maggie, and his film X+Y was selected for the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. On Broadway he worked with Gary Barlow on Finding Neverland, and in 2025 Manhattan Theatre Club staged his play Punch.
In September 2026 he appeared at the NYT’s 70th anniversary gala, Letters to My Younger Future Self.