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.