matthewturner.info

Much of my time this year has been spent developing my new play Dead Yard. This includes an Arcola Lab residency in May and a performance at the Arcola PlayWROUGHT festival in July.

The year draws to a close with welcome news that the play reached the final 40 in the longlist for this year’s Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

Dead Yard has been in development since 2015 and is a real passion project, drawing on family history and my own grief at losing loved ones. Really I feel that all my writing to date has been leading to this play, and it’s by far my proudest achievement.

So what is Dead Yard all about? Four siblings try to come to terms with the loss of their father while confronting their domineering mother. This is a play about family secrets, despair and hope, and the struggle to forge a new future under the weight of tradition.

On the back of our incredible feedback this year I plan to take Dead Yard into full production in 2018. If you’re interested in getting involved with this exciting project please contact me.

Pleased to say we got a very warm response to A Spoonful at Theatre503 last month. Massive thanks to Jennifer Bakst, Debbie Korley and Robert Bradley for their work on the play.

It’s always hard putting something together in a short space of time, but Debbie and Robert produced a completely believable, natural and engaging relationship on stage. Not bad seeing as they only met for the first time the Thursday before our first show!

I also recently had a welcome confidence boost as my full-length play Closed was longlisted for this year’s Bruntwood Prize. We’re trying to find a way to stage this play very soon, money and other things permitting. I’ll let you know how we get on!