Dec 31 2011

2011 round-up

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.


Oct 25 2011

New section: Reviews

Taking stock this week after a busy few months. Shoreham WordFest was a surprisingly big hit and generated a lot of local interest. The most rewarding part was hearing people say that they would love to see more new drama if we could stage more events throughout the year, and that the plays we put on were entertaining and, above all, accessible.

So it seems we’ve proved a point about the appetite for a literary festival in Shoreham, and we’ll be able to put on a bigger and bolder version of the WordFest next year.

Meanwhile I’m starting work on a couple of new writing projects. Very early days but I’ll post more when I can. And I’ve just added a Reviews page to this website. If you’d like review copies of any of my work, and you want to contribute to the site, just get in touch.