About me

I am a writer for stage and screen with over 150 festival appearances worldwide in film and production credits across London, Europe, and recently Canada for stage. My work is eclectic, across genre and style, and I never tell the same story twice. All of my work has a singular purpose: to make feeling possible.

I appreciate complication, contradiction, and the frangibility of existence. I write from my strongest point: the heart. I appreciate comfort when it presents itself in the work; I am grateful of laughter and enjoy surprising myself.

I face the difficulties you would expect as a writer when its between me and the page but I do the work in good faith. I can hold my breath underwater longer than when I started, and when I break the surface, I go back to my daily business and try to bring as much imagination, fullness, and love to that too. I enjoy my time not writing and value that highly also.

I am a playwright precisely because I need other people to fulfil the promise of the work. To move an audience is a joy. I love the conversations.

My Plays

A Living


Synopsis:

As her husband's appeal for murder draws near, Tessa, a teacher, must give an account of their relationship to Rachel—a journalist with a hidden interest in proceedings. Connecting them all is Jean, a high-class call girl. This complex and faceted story of betrayal, violence, and ambivalence is also a race against time to free a woman from a toxic relationship.


Number of Characters: 4


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 48


Location: A boudoir, a prison, a house, an office


Key Words: thriller, crime, sex, prostitution, journalism, class, tragedy


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

The contradictions of modern society, where \"everything is for sale and nothing has any value\" are at the heart of writer Dan Horrigan\'s clever script. Such contradictions are behind the dramatic tension that drives a skilfully controlled, stunning first scene, and they certainly keep the audience intrigued. One Stop Arts

 

\'Horrigan questions character, social, and gender roles in a work that holds intensely humane insights as wide-ranging as they are intimidating.\' SaSi

\'The structure of the play is clever and unpredictable.\' Catherine Usher

\'..an excoriating attack on middle-class attitudes and prejudices and the dangers inherent in personal desires.\' There ought to be Clowns

Bound


Synopsis:

Three generations of wealth and privilege converge in one fateful, destructive night.

Will and Rich need to cover a crime while their fathers need to face up to their ambivalence. Meanwhile, the women they love are disappearing.

Amidst this is Mujaddid—an immigrant, survivor, and angel. What is he doing in their house, and why do all of them think they know him?


Number of Characters: 7


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 7


Length (in Pages): 49


Location: A street in an affluent area of London, an old London house, A government office


Key Words: drama, politics, immigration, family, violence


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

\\\'A kaleidoscopic burst of chaotic energy that revolves around issues of immigration. This is a bold, confident piece.\\\' Papatango

Face the Camera and Smile


Synopsis:

A soldier who wants to forget and the wife who wants the recognition. A film director looking for a story and the photojournalist who wants the truth. From this network of needs, a complex power grab for who writes history emerges. What will be the cost of ending conflict responsibly?


Number of Characters: 4


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 4


Length (in Pages): 50


Location: A photography studio, a home, a hospital, a garage.


Key Words: Thriller, war, drama, political


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: Shortlisted for the Kings Cross Award for New Writing.


Reviews:

Paradise Now


Synopsis:

When Tam loses a score her foster siblings step up to settle the debt. Their faith is strong but broken hearts can be dangerous. Will they hold on to the squat that affords them their only shelter? A loving future struggling to break free from a damaging past can only be real if all debts are paid.


Number of Characters: 5


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 5


Length (in Pages): 52


Location: A squat in an abandoned pub.


Key Words: young adult, romance, queer, crime, drama, coming of age


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

Riot to Heaven


Synopsis:

A collection of short solo plays for men and women.

Read to Me - A dyslexic con on his first day in Strangeways receives a letter that could save his life. Who should read it? (15 mins M)

Seine - a debt collector must redeem the memorial his friend was owed and settle the account. Will paying his respects let him reclaim his honour? (12 Mins M)

A Coward in Love - in a remote dwelling far from his previous life an antiques restorer with a history of violence commits to his new identity. Will a quiet steady love keep him safe? (15 mins M)

A Kiss from back Home - the ghost of a young man who ran away for love attempts to hitch a lift from anyone who will hear his story. (12 mins F)

The Separation - a young professional beset by disparate facets of their psyche must find some reality - but will it have advantages? (13 mins F)

Moving On - a grifter on the run from romance begs for a train ticket that will take him home to die. Will confessing his infidelities get him there? (11 mins M)


Number of Characters: 6


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 1


Length (in Pages): 18


Location: a stage (a gas station, a shed, a garage, a prison, a railway station, a bridge)


Key Words: crime, drama, romance, horror, comedy, young adult, queer, petty thieves, grifters, debt collectors


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: The following monologues were adapted to film: The Separation, Seine, Read to Me. Between them they have won multiple awards for Best Romance, Best Actor, Best Writing, Best Actress. They have screened at The Curzon Soho, The Odeon Worcester and The British Museum. Combined they have over 40 Official Selections across the UK.


Reviews:

https://www.sierz.co.uk/blog/about-seine/

https://www.sierz.co.uk/blog/about-the-separation/

https://www.sierz.co.uk/blog/about-read-to-me/

https://northwestend.com/read-to-me-ukraine-fringe/

Still I See My Baby


Synopsis:

We change our world to suit our needs. That\'s human nature. Still I See My Baby imagines a world where gene modification technology is available for those who can afford it. But what happens when you can\'t?

Through a kaleidoscopic series of scenes, a picture emerges of a society that is losing touch with what truly makes us human: our ability to put children first.

Mass graves beneath monasteries, human trafficking in the dockyard, haggling over the colour of our children\'s eyes, falling pregnant without a license, refusing to stay sane just because you can afford to—these and other scenes centre questions about the fragility of human nature in a posthuman world.

This is a society where the pursuit of perfection drives a seductive evil.


Number of Characters: 29


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 5


Length (in Pages): 50


Location: School, hospital, dining room, hut, dockyard, front room, prison cell, garden, ruins,


Key Words: dystopia, dystopian, scifi, drama, ensemble


Has the Play Been Produced? Yes


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins: The short film Populace was adapted from the play and went on to win numerous awards after being handpicked for Danny Boyle\\\'s Shuffle Festival.


Reviews:

The play is available in French via Sophie Magnaud for Maison Antoine Vitez.

The Forest


Synopsis:

In a small bucolic territory that has escaped the ravages of a nation threatening war a boy on the run finds his refuge. But he has brought with him the vengeance of his masters in the guise of three soldiers tasked with bringing back his head. His only hope is a teacher looking for a truant girl for whom time is also short. To be led out means they have to go in and all will discover who they really are in The Forest.


Number of Characters: 6


Minimum Number of Actors Required: 6


Length (in Pages): 56


Location: A barn, a lake, a forest.


Key Words: dystopia, dystopian, scifi, fantasy, romance


Has the Play Been Produced? No


Are the Rights Available? Yes


Has the Play Been Published? No


Award nominations/wins:


Reviews:

\'Dan, The Forest is a good play.\' Nina Steiger National Theatre

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Dan Horrigan
@ danhorrigan

Location

Hereford, Herefordshire, England, UK

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