Yes!
Dragon has won Best Play for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards 2014.
Incredibly proud of the whole team.
Monday, 20 October 2014
Thursday, 25 September 2014
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.
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.
Monday, 1 September 2014
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.
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.
Thursday, 5 June 2014
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.
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.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
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.
Monday, 26 May 2014
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.
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.
Thursday, 8 May 2014
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.
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.
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