matthewturner.info

A new normal, a new way to work.

During lockdown I’ve written a set of short monologues, bringing new perspectives to some older stories of mine.

I’m now making these scripts available free on this site to anyone who’d like to perform, direct or simply read them. All I ask is that, if you make and circulate a recording of one of these pieces, you give me a credit and send me a link.

Read the Lockdown Monologues

Download as a PDF

• ‘A Tear’
• ‘Prudence’
• ‘Kicking In Eddie’

Three tales of isolation and estrangement, these monologues indirectly reflect the mood of these restless and panic-strewn days – or at least my mood of these days.

We may not be able to perform new work onstage for a while yet, but theatre can find new ways to exist. It has to.

Please share with anyone who might be interested.

Over a few short weeks in March I went from planning the next moves for my new play to questioning whether the theatre world as we know it will even continue to exist. This quantum shift has of course affected all those working in the creative industries, making the creative act itself hard to sustain.

UK theatre – while leading the world in the quality of output – is uniquely vulnerable to this public health crisis, and there is simply no way for our industry to survive without major, sustained government support – at all levels of our theatrical ecosystem.

Venues I’ve worked with such as the Arcola and Theatre503 are now facing the catastrophic impact of prolonged closure. These theatres are vital to the development of new work and talent, and they survive on shoestring budgets. Without a functioning network of local, fringe and small-scale venues, the entire ecosystem will wither away.

Sadly it all comes down to money. We don’t need platitudes, roadmaps or good intentions. We need investment. Theatres can’t sit tight and wait for the storm to blow over. They need help now.

Ours is an industry fuelled by passion, but we still have to keep roofs over our heads. While those at the visible pinnacle of our industry may be in some cases richly rewarded, the normal condition for those working in our industry is a variable and insufficient income, which simply cannot withstand long-term interruption.

Some writers have been inspired by lockdown to develop engaging, form-bending new work. I’m not one of them. At a time when an imaginative release would be most welcome, the mundane anxieties of survival get in the way. Still, a crisis like this helps to provide much-needed perspective, and better days will return in time.

For now I’m trying to work on some shorter writing projects, and plan for those better days. In the meantime, check out my blink-and-you’ll-miss-it contribution to the Royal Court’s fabulous Court At Home project, inspired by my favourite Royal Court play of recent years, Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children.