Activist-playwright Anders Lustgarten has Hungarian Jewish ancestry via his left-wing American immigrant parents who brought him up in Oxford, England. He turned to playwriting in 2007. Lustgarten began writing plays teaching in prison in America and his political activism has led to his arrest on four continents. He has previously written about the plight of refugees and a play about the Italian artist Caravaggio, which premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is know for his anti-capitalist polemic and “not giving a fuck” about the theatre establishment. In 2011, Lustgarten won the Harold Pinter Playwright’s Award for If You Don’t Let Us Dream We Won’t Let You Sleep at the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs.