Bernard Kops was born in the East End of London of Dutch-Jewish of working class parents in 1926. He achieved international  recognition with his first play, THE HAMLET OF STEPNEY GREEN which was performed all over the world.. He has written more than forty plays for stage and radio; including. PLAYING SINATRA,  WHO SHALL I BE TOMORROW? CALL IN THE NIGHT,  DREAMS OF ANNE FRANK,  ISAAC BABEL: RETURNING WE HEAR THE LARKS, ROGUES AND VAGABONDS and KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR. His autobiography THE WORLD IS A WEDDING was published throughout the world and has recently been followed by his acclaimed second instalment of autobiography, SHALOM BOMB.

Three volumes of his plays are available from Oberon Books. He recently received a major award from the Arts Council to write Rogues and Vagabonds, his most recent work on the birth of Yiddish Theatre.

Some Press Quotes for DREAMS OF ANNE FRANK

“Marvellous” The Guardian

“Eloquent. Distinctive. A masterpiece.” Time Out

This play won The London Fringe Award 1992 and Time Out Award 1992.

Nominated for Writers Guild Award 1993.

Some quotes on PLAYING SINATRA

“A memorable evening – one of the most important new plays of the year.”

Time Out

“Raw energy – powerful” City Limits

“Moving and affecting.” Financial Times

“Emotional profundity – Bernard Kops has written a three hander that fills it’s space to bursting point and expands outward with whirling centrifugal force, scattering ideas from it’s tight central core.” The Times

Some other quotes:

“No other living English Playwright matches Kops in the virtuoso handling of dream logic” Irving Wardle, The Times

“Kops allows life to flow over him, never losing his sense of sheer delight, in its size, its possibilities and its outrageousness.” The Guardian

“Brutal, grim, factual, but the mind that interprets is unfailingly dramatic, and exalts a most horrible history into a fantastical rhapsody”. The New York Times

“A writer of outstanding talent.” The Sunday Times

“Aboundingly honest, aboundingly alive”. Times Literary Supplement

“A sensational and compulsive writer” The Times

 Bernard is represented by Emily Hayward