With a rich heritage that comes of being both black and Irish, Gabriel is a poet, essayist and playwright. After studying English at Cambridge, he founded the Irish Irregulars Theatre Company and acted as literary director for the Siol Padraig Irish Arts Festival in London. He won the Mobil bursary to write his play SHANGO and was Mobil Writer-In-Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre. He has been involved in playwriting internationally, winning scholarships and fellowships which have taken him to Africa and the West Indies to research theatre and performance. He has advised both BBC Radio and the London International Festival of Theatre on African plays. In between, he has completed a writer’s course at the NFTS, been part of writers projects at London and Portuguese theatres, and organized an International Theatre Workshop as part of his duties as Judith E. Wilson Fellow at the Faculty of English at Cambridge.
WORKSHOP NEGATIVES Adaptation of Cont Mhlanga’s play for BBC World Service
OGA’S ARK New play for Nitro
ASYLUM Short play for the Lyric Theatre Belfast
HOTEL ORPHEU Performed at the Schaubeuhne Berlin and in Portugal in 1997 by the Assocoacao Cultural de Novas Artistas Africanas
THE FALL 30 minute film commissioned by Warner Sisters for Carlton
THE FRANKENSTEIN PROJECT choral poems for the Marlowe Society production at the Museum of Industrial Archeology, Cambridge (1994).
THE LONG HOT SUMMER OF '76 BBC Radio Drama and winner of 1994 Richard Imison Memorial Award.
ESHU'S FAUST International collaboration for the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
ABOLITION Awarded an Arts Council Bursary for its development. Co-produced by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre and Paines Plough in Bristol, London (Young Vic Theatre) and a regional tour.
SHANGO Play-reading at the Young Vic Theatre and winner of a Mobil Bursary. Also performed by De Nieuw Amsterdam Theatergroep in Amsterdam and toured.
NO BLACKS, NO IRISH A touring production by the Irish Irregulars Centre
A BROADSIDE MURDER Play reading by Paines Plough, the Writers' Company, at the Riverside Studio, London
FRIDAY'S DAUGHTER one hour film commissioned by George Faber BBC TVnow in development with John Akomfrah (Director).
NO BLACKS, NO IRISH feature-length film with Lizzie Taylor (Producer).
A FREE RIDE 10 minute film with Curtis Radclyffe (Director).
OGA'S ARK a full-length play in trilogy with Shango and Eshu's Faust.
THE BERLINER 90 minute radio play commissioned by BBC Radio Drama.
COFFEE INCOGNITO (Suburban Press, 1980).
THE NEW BRITISH POETRY 1968-1988 (Paladin, 1988).
POETS ALOUD (Ink Sculptors, Cork, 1988).
THE HEINEMANN BOOK OF AFRICAN POETRY IN ENGLISH (Heinemann, 1990)
Other: West Africa Magazine, Artrage, Nuovi Argomenti, Body Politic, Linea D'Ombra.
Readings: The Voice Box (South Bank Centre), The Poetry Society, Listowel 'Writers' Week' (Ireland).
The Late Show (BBC TV); The Independent (Arts features); The Museums Journal; Cultura; Wasafiri; Heinemann.