Mustapha Matura was born in Trinidad and came to England in 1961. He won the George Devine and John Whiting awards in 1971 for his first full-length stage play, As Time Goes By, which was staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and at the Royal Court, London. He won the Evening Standard's Most Promising Playwright Award in 1974 for Play Mas which opened at the Royal Court and subsequently transferred to the West End.
Mustapha co-founded the Black Theatre Co-operative with the director Charlie Hanson in 1978 under which he wrote the highly successful No Problem! His plays include: Black Pieces (ICA, 1970); Bakerloo Line (Almost Free, 1972); Nice (Almost Free, 1973); Black Slaves – White Chains (Royal Court Lunchtime, 1975); Rum an' Coca Cola (Royal Court Theatre and off-Broadway, 1976); Another Tuesday and More, More (the Factory, London, 1978); Independence (Foco Novo at the Bush, 1979); Welcome Home Jacko (Riverside, 1979); A Dying Business (Riverside Studios, 1980); One Rule (Riverside Studios, 1981); Meetings (Hampstead Theatre, 1982); The Playboy of the West Indies (Oxford Playhouse, 1984, and produced for BBC television, 1985); Trinidad Sisters (Tricycle Theatre, 1988); The Coup (Royal National Theatre, 1991) and Small World (Arena Stage, Washington, DC, 1994).
In 1991, Mustapha received the Trinidad and Tobago Government Scarlet Ibis Award for achievement.