matthewturner.info

‘Call off the funeral, Mummy! Chuck him in a skip and be done with him!’

Pop-Pop is dead. Yet his widow, Coral, is more intent on making war than mourning her late husband. And the children are her target. Battle commences at the family home over the traditional nine nights of festivities with old-time music, painful memories and shocking revelations. This is no ordinary wake.

Tickets are available now for a very special reading of my new play, Dead Yard, as part of the Arcola PlayWROUGHT festival. The reading will be directed by Yasmeen Arden, and takes place at the Arcola Theatre on Monday 24 July at 8.30pm.

Our cast for Dead Yard includes Kevin N Golding, Karlina Grace-Paseda, Jacqui-Lee Pryce, Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge and Lucille Findlay.

As part of the PlayWROUGHT process, all the selected writers had the opportunity to workshop their plays with Lisa Goldman. This was an invaluable experience and my thanks go out to Lisa, the others writers in our group and the organisers of PlayWROUGHT.

I hope to see you on the 24th!

We had a very special time at the Arcola for our residency with my new play, Dead Yard. Many thanks to Nick Connaughton for inviting us to take part in the Arcola Lab programme, and to Arts Council England for funding the project.

Our week at the Arcola ended with a rehearsed reading of Dead Yard to an industry audience, and members of some of the Arcola’s community groups. The response was overwhelming and gives me great hope for the future development of the play.

Off the back of the reading, Dead Yard has been selected for the Arcola’s PlayWROUGHT new writing festival in July. This includes the chance to develop the play further, with a public reading on Monday 24 July.

Our residency and reading was produced by Fabia Turner, whose passion for this project has driven us forward and helped us achieve great things.

Heartfelt thanks also to our fantastic cast – Franc Ashman, Roger Griffiths, Karlina Grace-Paseda, Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter and Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge – and to our director Yasmeen Arden and designer Holly Pigott.

It’s been a blast!