Plays
Confessions of A Rock n Roll Star - The world has rock n roll stars, for that we must be thankful. Sadly, we’re not all going to get to be one. Nonetheless, millions of us can pose in front of our mirrors with tennis racquets and sweeping brushes slung between our legs and dream and that’s better than nothing. Featuring classic rock tracks , wallow indulgently in a one-man fantasy guitar solo as homage to a wasted youth.
1979 - 1979 was written in 1984-5 and concerns young school-leaver Graham as he tries to adjust to adulthood at the age of 16. With his staunchly working class background, limited education and narrow world view, he vows to reinvent himself and tries to make some sense of the contradictory and harsh world he lives in: the economic wasteland of the North East of England in Thatcher"s Britain in the early 1980's. Unable to adjust quickly enough, he is "sectioned" in a psychiatric hospital where he meets Emily and together they escape the unit and go off and build their own world. Featuring political "rap" songs, despite being written for a large cast, it can be performed with a stock group of 6-7 actors. It was work shopped with Bruvvers Theatre Company in Newcastle in the spring of 1985.
The Conformist - Growing up in Italy in the mid-1920’s, lonely and largely ignored by his wealthy parents, 13 year-old Marcello Clerici lives in a fantasy world. After accidentally shooting a chauffeur, Marcello determines to live as “normal” a life as possible by adhering to the demands of Mussolini’s Fascism. Twenty years later, as Italy surrenders, he bumps into the chauffeur who hadn't died at all and realises how his entire life was built on a lie.The play was adapted from “The Conformist” by Alberto Moravia and performed in 1985.
Gauguin's Ghost - “Gauguin’s Ghost” is an informal study of the life of the artist Paul Gauguin. A well-researched piece, it explores the idea that Gauguin, on his deathbed, sold his soul to a witchdoctor in exchange for immortality in spirit form. We meet those who shaped his art and hear tell of how he pursued his own singular vision at all costs.
London Cousins - It is the late 1980's and three young men, migrants to London, all from different parts of the UK - Scotland, North East England and Brighton – are brought together by fate, choice, coincidence and economic reality, their lives brushing almost imperceptibly against each other as they seek to redefine their identities in a rapidly-changing world. Barely conscious of who they are or what they seek, they surrender to the life-altering forces of the sprawling metropolis known as London. "London Cousins", based on real events, started life as an audition speech for the actor Steve Payne in 1988.
Space Station - On a dark and lonely hill outside of town, two strangers meet for very different reasons: one has gone to set up a telescope to try and spot re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere of a decommissioned Russian space station and the other has gone to distract the former for as long as possible while his fellow villain burgles his house. Chance plays a part when the sole surviving bolt from the space station lands nearby. First public reading: October 2010, Paris. First public performance: February, 2012, Inverness, Scotland, by The Florians.
Space Jockey - Based on a true story and real experiences and set in London at the height of Thatcherism and fall of Communism 1989-93, this is unbridled capitalism at its worst and yet most creative: the story of telephone advertising salesman John Sherwood, a man who might or might not have existed, as told by five characters that rubbed shoulders with him. Featuring blistering sound bites from Nirvana, Happy Mondays, Killing Joke, The Stone Roses and EMF.
"A fascinating picture of the world of selling" - Time Out. "Cleverly reels the audience in" - The Stage. "Well-paced, effective, entertaining" - The Guardian.
"A fascinating picture of the world of selling" - Time Out. "Cleverly reels the audience in" - The Stage. "Well-paced, effective, entertaining" - The Guardian.
The Waiting Room - 1983 in a deserted railway station waiting room. A stranger waits for something to happen but is it a train or a date with destiny? A bizarre and ramshackle “family” appears with the apparent intention of “saving” the stranger from himself but the family displays such signs of disintegration and lack of cohesion, that their mission fails dismally. Only after the voluntary demise of the stranger do their true natures appear.
Scars - For Schools: The end of another school day and the kids are being ferried home on the school bus. Suddenly, outside there is an explosion of glass and a woman screams, clutching her face as it emerges somebody has thrown a bottle from the bus window. Three suspects are gradually filtered out in scenes and monologues exploring vandalism and small town life. Finally, the culprit acts. “Scars” was commissioned by Durham County Council to complement an “awareness” campaign following a number of dangerous incidents involving pupils on school buses. The storyline grew out of a number of true events. “Scars” touches on complex issues such as young people’s attitudes, their relationships with adults and vandalism.
My Brother Jake - For Schools: Mark, 13, worships his brother Jake, 17. Together the boys and their widowed Mum grow up in frugal poverty and battle for sense and identity against a background of social deprivation. But Jake is running before he has learnt to walk and when arrested for dealing, his secrets unravel in a series of events that incarcerate him and almost ruin the lives of others. “My Brother Jake” was first performed in October 1997 at Durham. Researched, with the help of Middlesbrough police’s Sgt. Brian Wilde, and using thinking of that time to inform and educate young people to the consequences of their actions. The show was performed 35 times over two years to secondary school students 12 – 15 years of age.
Pressure - For Schools: Released after ten months for good behaviour on a two-year sentence for drug dealing, “Pressure” is a study of Jake after his release and a look at how pressure from outside forces and from former friends continue to tempt him back to the same path that caused his downfall. Intended as a follow-up to “My Brother Jake”, it carries through certain references to the original but stands alone. It relies on an “inner world” of action rather than speech and silences in which outside interruptions create a menacing mood of the unknown. The “pressure” to cope with that menace is a challenge for the audience. It is designed for teenage audiences or schools exploring drugs issues.
Somebody Up There Likes Us - For Schools: In a land of much water but little fertile land and the other of abundant crops but limited water, two border guards diligently guard the frontier between them. With no common language, they maintain a fragile peace punctuated by aggressive gestures and threats. Until one day an unidentified aircraft, passing overhead, drops a small wooden box by parachute; inside is a bottle that contains a very strange liquid…“Somebody Up There” was improvised with the author and a professional French theatre company for schools, with the aim of bridging cultural gaps.
“Somebody up there likes us” came out of three days of workshops with French theatre company Spectabilis between 10th and 12th September 2001, in Angers, France. The remit was to build bridges between nationalities. Ironically, on the 11th September fate contributed to the urgency of such objectives in the shape of the infamous attack on the World Trade Centre. Based on notes taken at the time, this version was written a few years after that week and then worked through with Swedish actress Maja Beiler in Paris in March 2011. There are also ideas, threads and other influences I drafted in from my experiences living in Israel in 1988/89.