Roy Samuel Williams is a British playwright.

Early life

Williams was born in Fulham, London, and brought up in Notting Hill, the youngest of four siblings in a single-parent home, with his mother working as a nurse after his father moved to the United States. Williams decided to work in theatre after being tutored by the writer Don Kinch when he was failing in school and attended some rehearsals in a black theatrical company that Kinch ran. After leaving school at the age of 18, Williams did various jobs, including working in McDonald's and in a props warehouse. In 1992, he took a theatre-writing degree at Rose Bruford College and has worked ever since as a writer. His first full-length play was The No Boys Cricket Club, which premiered in 1996 at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Williams has done work in television, including adapting his own play Fallout, and also co-wrote the script for the 2012 British film Fast Girls.

Awards

2024 Winner Best adaptation at the BBC Audio Drama Awards for "Bess loves Porgy". His plays include: Death Of England:Closing time at the National Theatre in 2023