Background
Olwen Margaret Buck was born on 14 February 1932 in Oakland, California, the daughter of Philip W. (a professor of political science) and Barbara (Jacobs) Buck, and the granddaughter of W. W. Jacobs.
Olwen Margaret Buck was born on 14 February 1932 in Oakland, California, the daughter of Philip W. (a professor of political science) and Barbara (Jacobs) Buck, and the granddaughter of W. W. Jacobs.
She attended Pomona College from 1949-1951 and University College, London from 1951-1952.
Her most successful play was Find Maine (1977), about mental illness, which is still used as a set text for drama qualifications in United Kingdom schools. She also wrote dozens of British Broadcasting Corporation radio play adaptations, including her 2001 version of Thomas Mann"s The Magic Mountain. One of her last works, it starred Paul Scofield in one of his greatest radio roles.
The Gymnasium (one-act) (1967) "The Techniciaheheheheehns" (one-act) (1969) Stay Where You Are (one-act) (1969) Neither Here Nor There (one-act) (1971) Speak Now (two-act) (1971) The Committee (one-act) (1971) Jack the Giant Killer (one-act) (1972) Tales From Whitechapel (one-act) (1972) Watch the Woman (two-act), (1973) with Brian Phelan The Twenty-Second Day (one-act) (1975) We Three (one-act) (1977) After Nature, Art (one-act) (1977) Find Maine (two-act) (1977) Loved (two-act) (1979) Please Shim Down on Maine (1980) Best Friends (1981) One Woman (adapted from three plays by Dario Fo and Franca Rame) (1981) Lessons and Lovers: Doctorate.H. Lawrence in New Mexico: a Play (1986) Although I have never written "a commercial" play, I have to sell my work.
Consequently I think my plays have become less obscure (and pretentious), and I find myself more drawn to comedy. The theatre is my first passion, but I love to write for radio and would like to write more for television and would really like to write a film.".
Quotations:
In an interview with Contemporary Authors: "From the fifties until my husband died in 1970 I wrote plays because I wanted to Now I write them for a living. Although I have never written "a commercial" play, I have to sell my work.
Consequently I think my plays have become less obscure (and pretentious), and I find myself more drawn to comedy.
The theatre is my first passion, but I love to write for radio and would like to write more for television and would really like to write a film.".