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.
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