Dragon WINS UK Theatre Award 2014

Yes!

Dragon has won Best Play for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards 2014.

Incredibly proud of the whole team.

Dragon nominated for UK Theatre Award 2014

Nice!

Dragon has been nominated for Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards 2014.

Here's the cool trailer... you know, just because.

Dragon - Production Trailer from National Theatre of Scotland on Vimeo.

Robin Hood rides again...

Yes, Robin and his merry people are back!

We open in Scotland in Glasgow at Platform on Friday 12th September before going to Dunfermline, Elgin, and Tobermory.

The show then flies off to the US for an extended tour that touches down in New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Florida.

All the info can be found on the Visible Fictions website here.

The Washington Post called the show 'ingenious'. The Herald said it 'delights all ages'. And the DC Metro jumped up and down and gave us five stars.

And here is a cool trailer thing:

The Adventures of Robin Hood promo from Visible Fictions on Vimeo.

Dragon - in China

I don't exactly remember when the idea of Chinese co-producers was first mentioned for Dragon. It must have been early on because I remember an ideas session with Jamie and Candice (artistic directors of Vox Motus) on their return from a research trip to Beijing.

Jamie had this massive, roll out poster of a dragon emerging from a thunder cloud. It was beautiful, mysterious and, well, completely foreign to us.

The western tradition of Dragon is very much that of a monster to be defeated (think St George). Whilst in China, Jamie and Candice had spoken to many people about the Lung (Dragon in Mandarin) and found a very different system of belief.

Dragons are part of everyday culture, a lucky and positive creature, and there are all kinds of dragon too. Water dragons, sky dragons, gold dragons.

It was very important to us, as we continued to make Dragon, that we would find a way to respect and challenge both western and Chinese traditions.

Now the wheel has turned full circle as Dragon is set to open in China next week.

Jamie and Candice, and the rest of the creative team, have been out at the Tianjin People's Arts Theatre for a fortnight and I go out to see it in a couple of days.

It's a thrill and a privilege to see the work in another culture. And it's completely terrifying too.

I have no idea what China will make of our dragon but I'm excited to find out.

Take me to... The Necropolis

I'm in the middle of writing my new play for BBC Radio 4 'Take Me to... The Necropolis'. It's part of an on-going drama serial called 'Take Me To...' which is series of stand alone Afternoon Dramas that focus on particular places. When I was asked to write one set in Glasgow, I immediately thought of the Necropolis.

The Necropolis was once a park before it was bought by the Merchants of Glasgow as a cemetery. It actually had quite a short lifespan as a final resting place but its ornate memorials and unique vantage point over the city has placed it firmly in Glaswegian hearts.

I've always loved cemeteries. When I was on holiday as a kid, Mum and Dad would always stop whenever we found a random graveyard and make us wander round. It's often the brilliant names that capture the imagination. And, as a small child (and sometimes now), the sense that you stepping on bodies...

My play is a comic drama about two students who get drunk and lost in the Necropolis and end up meeting a weird series of characters that offer them different choices of destiny. It's about a fear of the future, what bad champagne can do to your head and has a chorus of a thousand rats.

I'm writing it now and we will (hopefully) be recording it on location at the Necropolis sometime in the late summer.

I'll keep you posted.

Uncle John

My Great Uncle John (or simply Uncle John as we called him) was the other playwright in our family. As far as I know, Uncle John never had anything professionally produced but he was a teacher in Manchester for years and wrote the school plays.

Uncle John once wrote a song for a school production called 'Take Me Back To Manchester Where It's Always Raining'. Decades later one of his pupils, Mike Leigh, used it in his film 'Naked'. Apparently Mike Leigh had tried and failed to find the writer of the song and had assumed it was a traditional Manchester song. There followed a series of phone calls which ended with Uncle John and Mike Leigh singing down the phone to each other.

I only found all this out much later. Uncle John was an incredibly modest man and one of the most gentlemanly. He told the story with a glint in his eye, more from enjoyment than pride.

Uncle John was always a great supporter of my writing. Back when I was starting out, he and his wife Maria would turn up unannounced to see whatever fringe production I had on. He never asked for a freebie and sometimes made up 100% of the audience. Afterwards, Uncle John would hang around and chat to the actors or the director and later, would write me a beautiful hand-written note of encouragement.

I can't tell you what these letters meant to me.

When you are starting out as a playwright it is difficult to get your friends and family to take you seriously, let alone anyone else. Uncle John was always encouraging and often extremely kind at my false steps and pretentiousness.

In the last few years, Uncle John had had a period of ill health and so had not seen anything recently. But he would occasionally catch one or two of my radio plays and I would duly receive another lovely letter.

In September last year, I was appointed to a post at the University of St Andrews, the town he was born in, had retired to and loved. My dad tells me that Uncle John was incredibly chuffed (his great Uncle had been a part of the University too) but although I had seen him a couple of times in the last few years since moving to Scotland, I had not seen him recently.

Sadly Uncle John passed away yesterday at the age of 89 so I will never get the opportunity to say how much I appreciated his support. He was a real character, a fantastic teller of stories and someone who I felt was on my team.

Thank you, John, for all your support and kindness. You will be missed.

CATS nominations for Dragon

Very pleased to say that Dragon, my play for Vox Motus, the National Theatre of Scotland, and Tianjin Peoples Arts Theatre has been nominated for 5 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland.

We're up for Best New Play, Best Production for Children and Young People, Best Technical Presentation, Best Design and Best Ensemble.

It was a total team effort so each nomination is brilliant!

And it's lovely to be celebrated in such amazing company with all the other great shows from last year.

The full list of nominees is here.

The winners are announced in June.

Fingers and tallons crossed.

Elvis in Prestwick - BBC Radio 4Extra

My short story Elvis In Prestwick about Presley's one and only visit to Great Britain is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra this Sunday and will be on iPlayer for seven days. It's read by the brilliant Laura Fraser.

Check it out here.

A play on repeat...

One of the odd things about writing for radio is that you never know when a play is going to be repeated. (Playwrights grumble a bit about this but, to be honest, there's so much content that it's obviously impossible to inform everyone). The happiest moment is when someone emails to say that they enjoyed listening to a play which you didn't even know was on.

Last night, I got such an email from a pal about Albion Street, the short play I wrote about the independence debate in Scotland that was first broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in February.

When I tell people a play of mine is being repeated the most common response is: ooh, that will mean a nice repeat fee, eh? This makes me laugh. I would have to check my contract but I believe the broadcaster gets two repeats before any new 'fee' is issued. And it's rare for a radio drama to get more than two repeats...

No, the truth is that the real positive about a repeat is that more folk can listen to your play. Downloads and iPlayer have had a massive (and positive) effect on how we listen to radio and have changed it forever.

But there's still nothing quite like a repeat.

NEW - MLitt in Creative Writing - Writing For Performance

New for 2014-15 is this new strand to the already brilliant MLitt in Creative Writing at University of St Andrews - Writing for Performance.

Lead by Zinnie Harris and myself, the course offers a broad range of experience and skills for writing for stage, screen, radio and for young people. We focus in particular on new writing from Scotland with teaching taking the form of weekly seminars, workshops and one-to-one tuition.

See here for more information.

The Adventures of Robin Hood - the book!

Hurrah!

The lovely people at Oberon Books have published my new play The Adventures of Robin Hood. It was a very swift turnaround so many thanks are due to Andrew Welby and everyone at Oberon.

Next week we take the show to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of World Stages Festival. 

We are back in Scotland in a few weeks.

Until then, you can buy the book at all good theatre bookshops and on Amazon.

Playwright (etc.)

(Photo by Eoin Carey)

Last Edinburgh Fringe, the Playwright Studio Scotland were kind enough to invite me to lead a workshop called 'Playwright (etc.)' about ideas, where they come from and the different roles that a playwright has within a process.

And I'm delighted to say that the PSS have asked me back again as part of their TalkFest at the Tron this April.

Find info and tickets for 'Playwright (etc.)' here.

It's not just me either. There is a workshop with the splendid Douglas Maxwell, the brilliant David Harrower, and the awesome Clare Duffy.

Each workshop is £3 so frankly you'd be bonkers not to go to them all.

I hope to see some of you there!

What's so good about Robin Hood?

(Kevin Costner as Robin Hood*).

A couple of years ago I was having a drink with Visible Fictions artistic director Dougie Irvine and pitching the idea of a new version of Robin Hood. It's always been one of my favourite stories and I reckoned a low tec, slightly bonkers re-telling would be great.

Dougie was enthusiastic but we both had other shows to make and that was that. Or so I thought.

Last August I was rehearsing Dragon in Film City in Govan and Dougie was re-rehearsing Visible Fictions unstoppable masterpiece Jason & the Argonauts. He asked if I had had any more thoughts about the famous outlaw. Visible Fictions and the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC were planning a new collaboration and had settled on Robin Hood. Would I be interested?

Erm... Yes please, I said. Yes. Definitely.

What's so good about Robin Hood?

One of the defining films of my childhood was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (my little sister and I knew all the words to Bryan Adams' hit Everything I Do and would sing along every Thursday when it came on Top of the Pops) and Maid Marion & Her Merry Men is still one of the best TV shows for kids ever. Anyone a bit older remembers Robin of Sherwood and The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn is a Hollywood classic. I wasn't a fan of the latest BBC TV version or the Ridley Scott film but both pulled in the audiences.

Robin shouldn't be so attractive. He's a thief. He lives in a wood. He hangs out with a bunch of unruly blokes. *He often has stupid hair.

But he steals from the rich and gives to the poor and in a time when 85 people are as wealthy as the poorest half of the world's population, this ancient tale seems as relevant as ever.

Robin Hood is a story about what happens when the most powerful forget about the least among us.

He isn't perfect - far from it - but he's on our side and that's ultimately why we love him.

Visible Fictions/Kennedy Centre's The Adventures of Robin Hood opens at the beginning of March. See here for more details.

Robin Hood Rehearsals Week 2 - Making A Mess

Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham are building a castle out of cardboard boxes.

Well, to be precise the actors Martin McCormick and Bill Mack are building a castle out of cardboard boxes. Some of the boxes have white paint on, others have the word 'trick', and there one small box is marked 'chicken'.

Confused?

We are in week two of rehearsals of Visible Fiction's production of my new play, The Adventures of Robin Hood. This is the messy bit. We've had the first week when we have played around with ideas, now we are almost half way through the second week and the room is in chaos.

This is when we work everything out. Despite the mayhem, we are actually making decisions and building the show, brick by brick. It's slow and painstaking yet always playful and fun.

And what at first seems like a pile of old boxes suddenly transforms into the great castle of Nottingham...

Albion Street - recording

I think it was Paul Klee who said that drawing was 'taking a line for a walk'. For me, plays are a good way to take a thought for a walk.

Albion Street is my take on the debate on Scottish independence.

It's a radio play about a man and woman who meet by chance in a smart restaurant in the Merchant City of Glasgow and discuss their past, independence and pastrami.

I didn't start out with a particular point of view. In fact, it was because I wanted to find out more about it that I decided to write the play. I spent a year reading stuff and listening to people. When asked which way I would vote, I always replied 'I don't know yet'.

But the truth is that the play has ended up being about relationships, about people and their pasts and how they define themselves.

I watched a lot of Eric Rohmer while I was writing it. I love his films, such as My Night With Maude, where two people meet in unlikely circumstances, there is a confrontation and they leave. There are no big bangs, no murder or anything, but somehow everything has changed.

So Albion Street uses independence as a metaphor for relationships rather than the other way around.

I hope you enjoy it.

It's directed by Gaynor MacFarlane and is performed by the splendid Meg Fraser and Robin Laing. We're in studio today and it will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland Wednesday 29th January at 1330.