Dragon opens at the Citizens Theatre

Have you seen this? Isn't it cool? Yes after three years of hard work Vox Motus/National Theatre of Scotland/Tianjin Children's Art Theatre will be producing my new play for everyone called 'Dragon' in October. I will post more info as and when...

Playwright (etc.) - a workshop

As part of the Playwright Studio Scotland's Made in Scotland TalkFest, I will be doing a workshop entitled 'Playwright (etc.)'. It's on Saturday 17th August 1400-1600 at Fringe Central.

I'll be looking at ideas and where they come from, as well as what it means to be a playwright in the real world. A mixture of practical things and wild fantasy. Bring a pen and an imagination.

Oh and it's free. Bonus.

Titus is Made In Scotland

Titus is back and this time he's here to stay. Well for the month of August at least. I'm very happy to say that with the support of those excellent folk at the Macrobert, our production of Titus is part of the Made In Scotland showcase.

Check here for the details.

We're at the brilliant and exciting Summerhall from 2nd August all the way through until the 25th at 12.10. The show lasts 40minutes.

If you haven't seen it (or even if you have) come along. I'm dead proud of this one.

Goldfish reviews so far...

(Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

This is a link to the National Theatre of Scotland's website where they have collated our brilliant reviews for The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish.

★★★★ The Scotsman, The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph.

We're all dead chuffed.

Come along to see it and let us know what you thought on Twitter using the #2Goldfish hastag.

Goldfish for sale!

(This is our first audience coming into the space. They were excellent.)

We opened on Saturday at the beautiful Beacon in Greenock and it was a triumph. The fish fished, the audience enjoyed, and dads were swapped.

It's been a crazy month. This was always going to be a technical show what with it being promenade but that's without counting on all the other things that are discovered in rehearsals. It's been a real privilege as well as challenge to find cunning ways to incorporate all the amazing ideas of Lu and the cast. It feels as if the whole process has gone in a flash and I'm still trying to work out the best bits.

And on a technical note...

I want to take a second to send a high-five to all the splendid folk that you don't see but without whom the show just wouldn't happen. Fi Fraser (production manager), David Sneddon (Company Stage Manager), Neil McLean (Technical Manager), Kylie Langford (Wardrobe Supervisor), Katy Lonsdale (Wardrobe Assistant) and Sarah Wilson (Technician) worked almost without pause last week to get us ready for the audience. A nicer bunch of smiley people who have little reason to smile you could hardly wish for. Writers, directors and actors get their names in the reviews but without this lot, we wouldn't be anywhere at all.

Goldfish is now on tour throughout May. Look out for us.

Goldfish rehearsals - Week One

And we're off.

The cast and crew of Goldfish gathered at our rehearsal room on Monday for the first readthrough of the script and a look at the final model box. Having only had the text for a few days, the actors were brilliant and it went as well as these things can.

It's always a terrifying moment when you hear the script for the first time. You can never be certain that the words that worked in your head will work in other people's mouths. But the rest of the team laughed and were quiet in all the right places so that's a good start.

The rest of the week has been a refining of the text and design. I've done another four (or is it five) drafts since Monday and on Friday we had the entire the National Theatre of Scotland team in to hear the final (fingers crossed) readthrough before we lock the script next week.

My personal highlight of this first week was going to visit the pupils of St Brides Primary. Attentive and funny and curious, they gave us excellent notes on the first scene. The best question came from an 8 year old boy who looked the director straight in the eye and asked seriously: Have you got a dog?

Short stories to download

The excellent AudioGO have two of my short stories to download. Both were originally written for BBC Radio 4.

Songbirds is read by Robin Laing and is my (rather bizarre) response to the theme of Twitter.

Elvis In Prestwick is read by Laura Fraser and is a story set on the day of Presley's only visit to the UK.

Have a listen and let me know what you think.