Changing Lives with Words
PLAYWRITING
In 2011, I was runner-up in the New Perspectives/East Midlands Airport Arrivals/Departures monologue writing competition, and this began a love of the whole process of writing script and working with actors and directors.
I was chosen for the Crossovers Project run by Theatre Writing Partnership, for writers experienced in one genre wishing to ‘crossover’ into another, offering mentoring and help to develop scripts.
My first play, Always in the Afternoon, was developed from the original prizewinning monologue. This was followed by a further five years of playwriting, resulting in two full-length plays, Swing and Just Cuckoos, and the monologue Taking It Like a Woman.
JUST CUCKOOS (2016)
Produced by New Perspectives Theatre Company, directed by Theresa Keogh, performed at The Old Library Theatre, Mansfield, and at Gotham Memorial Hall.
When Hannah inherits the papers her mother left in trust for her, she unearths the details of a 1960s teenage courtship and her mother’s subsequent adoption, discovering through this
her own history.
You can read audience reviews of Just Cuckoos here.
TAKING IT LIKE A WOMAN (2016)
Produced by Write Track/First Art Played In Project, directed by Kev Fegan and Christopher Neil. A monologue touring
three North Notts venues.
A young woman has a trial tattoo to test her partner’s reaction. The outcome leads her to question not only her own future, but her mother and grandmother’s relationships with the men they married, and whether she can find the courage to break the damaging cycle that has affected all of them.
SWING (2015)
Produced by Palace Theatre, Mansfield/Write Track, directed by Chris Neil, performed at Create Theatre, Mansfield.
Swing focuses on four teenagers who find themselves forced into attending an arts project at a Community Centre as part of their rehabilitation for crimes they have committed. All is not what it seems. What is Josh’s secret? Why is Kelly so angry? What is Beth fighting for? Who is the real Mark? Will they find what they are looking for or end up back where they started?
You can read a review of Swing by the poet Matt Black here.
WITNESS (2012)
Produced by New Perspectives Theatre Company as runner-up in the New Perspectives Playwriting Competition, directed by Gareth Morgan, performed as part of the ensemble, Goldfish, in various venues in the East Midlands.
Rachel and her siblings have been brought up by their mother to believe that lying is wrong, but for Rachel, struggling to be heard in a controlling family, telling the truth seems to cause turmoil. Who will she become, what is the truth, and is telling it the most important thing anyway?
ALWAYS IN THE AFTERNOON (2011)
Originally produced as a prizewinning monologue by New Perspectives, and performed as the ensemble Arrival and Departures, at Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham and Aslockton – later developed, and an extract showcased at Curve, Leicester, with the fully developed play performed script in hand at Derby Guildhall Theatre in 2011, directed by Tilly Branson.
Sally has a letter she is always on the brink of posting. Her teenage daughter wants her to do it and until she does, both their histories will be tied up in a fantasy world. Jennifer has a secret that she can no longer contain in spite of her motherʼs determination to keep it buried firmly in the past. Always in the Afternoon is a lyrical, witty and poignant play about two women who must liberate themselves from secrets and live
face to face with the truth.
You can read audience reviews of Always in the Afternoon here.
