Plays
I write plays on commission or inspiration, mainly for stage or radio, and have been a prizewinner in several competitions and awards. I've written plays for BBC Radio, fully professional stage productions, and community projects: full length plays with live music and songs, to five minute sketches: surreal comedy, mythical drama, historical and biographical plays.
The Selkie, a fully professional play with songs, which toured the north east from Berwick to York in February 2008, is my seventh commissioned stage play. It began as a radio play, which was a runner-up in the BBC Radio 4 Alfred Bradley Award, in 2007.
My short poetic play Mine was shortlisted in the Live Theatre 2006 Competition.
The BBC have just commissioned my radio play, Nowt to Look At, for Radio 3's The Wire drama slot. A three character play: two youngsters and a severed head! This arises from my work with a London BBC producer, after being selected for a BBC/Graeae residency at The Hurst, Shropshire, in 2004, and a New Writing North radio drama course, Ignite, at Sunderland University. I am keen to write more plays for radio, especially comedy and surreal drama.
My previous full length stage play is Hadaway, The Making of a Writer, commissioned by Cloud Nine for the Tom Hadaway Festival in October 2003. It was the only new full length play written for the festival, performed to packed houses and a wonderful response from literary and local people. It may be unique as a play about the life of a then living playwright. Tom Hadaway's rags-to-riches and often tragic life made a very moving, violent and funny play which has been published by Iron Press.
More about Hadaway, The Making of a Writer.
I also wrote a suite of plays in 2005/4 for Pluto Theatre Company, working with the Darlington Railway Museum.
- It Is Rocket Science! is a half hour comedy for children exploring the impact of the railways on ordinary people's lives through action packed knockabout humour, and was performed to schools.
- George Stephenson, This Is Your Life was made into a twenty minute film for September '04 performances and interactive CD-ROM to be played in museums.
- I wrote two thirty-minute plays on railway history, about real characters - a ghost, a female lion tamer etc - as promenade performances in the museum. Three Tales of Trains Gone By and Four Tales of the Rails were performed throughout '05.
I also wrote Who Killed the Commodore?, a murder mystery, for Stage Focus company, performed at various local venues in winter 2002, involving audience participation.
My first full length stage play was Collingwood and the Tars of the Tyne, including songs, for Tynemouth Pageant, performed in the open air at Tynemouth Castle and Priory July 23rd - 27th 2002, to full houses. Not only about Admiral Collingwood and Trafalgar, it also explored the days of the press gang on the Tyne, where men, and women, rioted in protest at the abduction of breadwinners for the Navy.
I've also had comedy sketches performed as part of Cloud Nine's Comedy Bites and Laughter Factory. I'm always interested in new venues and outlets for my plays.