About me
I'm an internationally performed playwright with a background in theatre/opera directing and, way back when, acting.
Here's my website to give a taster of my work: https://ndsmit4.wixsite.com/neilsmith
I write my own plays, new versions/inspirations of classic plays and opera librettos.
What sort of plays do I write? Glad you asked. I'll let an actor who's rehearsed/performed in some of my plays give you an idea. My plays are 'earthy, elemental, darkly funny full of blood and sweat yet entertaining and approachable. Until they aren't. And you're taken somewhere new and dangerous without realising.'
With my original plays, I tend to explore the long-form two-hander with a single location and as few scenes as I can get away with. After a theatre company rehearsed and staged one of my plays, I noticed this form did something quite special for the experience of the actors, the director and the audience. They fed back they became almost hypnotic in the focus it forced on them. There was no escape to breathe, to return to the 'real' world. Actors would say after a certain time they had little recollection of what had happened as they entered what they could only refer to as their unconscious, in the same way automatic writing can do. I have since pushed that form to the fore of my plots and characters seeing how I can marry the ebb and flow of narrative and character with the demands of the structure.
I fell into writing new versions of classics when I was commissioned to write a new version of Strindberg's Creditors. While it has remained the most respectful to the original I turned his drama about art and personal relationships into a political black farce that shone a light on the art of persuasion/propaganda and how it affects personal relationships through revenge. I have since taken on Checkhov's Three Sisters exploring two sets of sisters, one Checkhov's after the end of the play, the other Russian immigrant sisters living in Lewisham in 2011; and I've attempted a new version of Shakespeare' Hamlet for an immersive Punchdrunk-style performance. With each, I have sought to bring out something new and dynamic/unexpected.
I'm always learning and reflecting on directing, acting, and how they relate to my narratives/characters. I've written quite intimate stories, modern myths located in domestic locations, that each dance between the modern and the classics but am exploring more epic and global stories that traverse history/modernity using a grander patchwork, while hopefully keeping that intimacy.
I am an associate writer for Living Record Theatre Company and co-run an opera company that has been on hiatus for a few years now.
My Plays
ADVENT
Synopsis:
George and Jude, originally from ‘up north’, are finishing preparations for the fortieth birthday barbecue of their daughter, Jen in their back bungalow garden located just outside the M25. She travels up once a year and it's a proper celebration. Only this year Hitler has drowned in the pond, George hasn't lit the briquettes and the lounge remains a mess.
As best-laid plans fail, long-buried secrets return home to haunt the elderly couple.
The play has a comic/tragic heritage of Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs with a touch of Beckett/Harold Pinter; and a dose of the 80’s British TV sitcom Terry and June.
Number of Characters: 2
Minimum Number of Actors Required: 2
Length (in Pages): 100
Location: A LOVINGLY MANICURED BACK GARDEN OF A TWO-BEDROOM BUNGALOW SET AMONGST SIMILAR BUNGALOWS IN A CLOSE NORTH OF THE M25
Key Words: Elderly couple, comic, tragedy, trauma, murder, romance, crisis of religion, birthday celebration, memory, loss, re-enactment
Has the Play Been Produced? Yes
Are the Rights Available? Yes
Has the Play Been Published? No
Award nominations/wins: Audience Award, Edinburgh Fringe, 2015
Reviews:
FringeGuru ★★★★★ “Neil Smith’s script grows on you. Its language is entirely natural but it’s insidious too.”…“This play composts you. You’ll crumble but be better for it.”
Fringe Review: “Neil Smith’s play is deceptively calm and then builds and explodes – visceral writing. What does that mean? It affected me physically – I was utterly still in parts, even lulled into a false sense of calm, before I moved uncomfortably in my seat, tuned into things I didn’t want to tune into that were happening before me…An unmissable play on the Fringe.”
ThreeWeeks.co.uk: “As I watched this piece of new writing, I had to constantly remind myself that it wasn’t some obscure Pinter play.”…“This fantastic script by Neil Smith balances subtlety with exposition to tauntingly reveal this couple’s secrets. At times they’re filled with resentment, tension, passive and physical aggression, but their interactions are also laced with love.”
ECHOES
Synopsis:
John returns to the home he walked out on nine years ago only to find his ex 'Helene' is now called '1' and he has a nine-year-old daughter called '2'. Things sure have changed. But now he's here he wants to see '2' and find his place as her father. Only '1' has other plans. ECHOES is an ever-escalating psychological cat-and-mouse domestic horror that explores who we are in the face of change, the pain and love of being something new. And the joy of Barbie.
Number of Characters: 4
Minimum Number of Actors Required: 2
Length (in Pages): 61
Location: A living room of a cottage in. the English countryside
Key Words: Cat and Mouse, Horror, Domestic, Ex-partner, Comic, Gore, Violence, Return, Romantic, Wooden Carving, Corpse, Storm, Gardening, Identity
Has the Play Been Produced? Yes
Are the Rights Available? Yes
Has the Play Been Published? No
Award nominations/wins:
Reviews:
https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/review-absent-new-wimbledon-studio-theatre:
“What has probably been the finest piece of new writing and acting that I’ve watched in quite some time.”…“Neil Smith’s style of writing is darkly comic and simply brilliant. The depths to which he details his characters are fantastic and fascinating and the storyline concepts are original and intriguing. All characters I witnessed were thoroughly layered and always kept the audience on edge. I somewhat wish the scripts were available at the end of the show as I’m just the kind of person to read it, despite just seeing it, and shoving it down any of my friend’s throats that weren’t fortunate enough to catch it. Neil Smith has definitely got a new fan.”…“There were a few times when within one minute I went from smiling to holding back tears at the hand of these fine actors.”
