matthewturner.info

The last few years have felt pretty tough but, given that this is a day for taking stock, I can look back on some writing milestones this decade.

• The Interview at the Arcola in 2010
• The Inside Man/The Interview double bill at the Brighton Fringe
• Shortlisted for the Windsor Fringe prize (Inside My Head)
• Four Rapid Write Response plays for Theatre503
• Two Bruntwood Prize final 40 plays (Closed and Dead Yard)
• A Certain Kind of Girl for The Miniaturists
• Development of Dead Yard at the Arcola Lab in 2017
• The Arcola PlayWROUGHT festival, again with Dead Yard

Along the way I’ve worked with many talented and generous actors, directors and writers, inspiring me to make my own way as a playwright.

Eclipsing all the above are my two proudest achievements: marrying Fabia in 2012 and Adam’s arrival in 2014. Maybe the 2010s have been a rather special decade after all!

I’ve been quiet but busy in 2019. Stay tuned for the lowdown on my brand new full-length play in 2020.

My writing high point of the year was 14 May, our Saturday performance of The Inside Man / The Interview at the Brighton Fringe. A full house (despite the competing lure of the FA Cup Final), the cast at full throttle and a warmly responsive audience – well, it was everything I’d hoped for.

Our whole run at the Fringe was fantastically rewarding, and it was great to feel part of such a buzzing festival with so many inventive events going on all over Brighton. Creativity thrives on others creativity, and the Fringe spirit helps you turn your ideas into reality in no time at all.

The same spirit lies behind Shoreham WordFest. Though currently at a much smaller stage of development, I was impressed by how much our group managed to achieve for the inaugural festival in September. With barely any funding we managed to attract a big enough audience to prove the value of holding a larger-scale WordFest in 2012.

One final highlight was the news that I had made the final nine of the Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing for Inside My Head. Following a successful reading at Sussex Playwrights’ Club I’m now deciding what to do next with this short play.

And so into 2012, with the usual mix of apprehension and anticipation. Good luck with all your plans and hopes for the year ahead.