About me
I have written fiction and more recently plays intended for radio and the theatre. In the past I had a regular feature in a magazine and I have had the odd thing published since or workshopped or even broadcast but not very often and I hardly ever told anyone. I was brought up to believe that writing fiction was something people did who had money but not for people like me. Plus, if I was any good someone would discover me. I also never realised for years that I could send potential audio drama other places than the BBC. It seems crazy I know but I didn'thave a clue how to improve my writing or find anywhere for it to go. If a piece or a script was rejected I would quite often stop writing for a while until I felt impelled to write again. I was also a single parent and struggling to earn enough from a full time and a part time job. Now of course I realise that one has to market one's work but it feels very strange to me. I don't naturally want to network with people but I am forcing myself to!
I write plays and stories about the world around me and I draw on my work and life in working class communities in the North East. For example, I've written an audio drama about social researchers looking at older people's relationships set in the North East and a play set in a housing co-op about the housing crisis and tensions as well as misunderstandings between younger people who are dispossessed and older people who worked hard to create housing opportunities for themselves in co-ops. My latest play has a stage and an audio version and its about a mother and daughter who decide to set up a stripping business at a time in the 70s and 80s when stripping was a money spinner in the working men's clubs and sexism was an everyday horror. I am also currently writing a novel based on a real story (not mine) which intrigued me and still does. Some of the first chapters were picked up from an audio podcast I did by local radio and the piece is now on BBC Sounds. I am currently trying to woo a local Am Dram group into doing some readings with me - to no avail so far but now I have grasped the nettle, as it were, I am intent on having a go. As an older writer I find that many doors are closed - it's impossible to get on the nearest playwriting course at Live Theatre even online unless. It seems that everything is geared to young writers but I've done other courses instead and as I say, I will keep trying.
My Plays
A Family Business
Synopsis:
The play follows Teresa, Barry and Kathy (Teresa's mother) who decide to set up an agency for strippers. Teresa drives the idea because while helping her mother behind the bar at the local workingmens club she was shocked and outraged when she saw how the women strippers were treated by the punters. This is the 1970s when male bars, misogyny and stripping on a Sunday were commonplace. Teresa reckoned there was money to be made but it wasnt just money she wanted the women to be treated better and get paid more. Kathy her mother was quickly on board and then (this being the 1970s)Teresa had to convince her husband. The business becomes a success but not before the characters learned how to train and protect the women strippers, deal and negotiate with gangland bosses who control the seedy world of stripping. They do this partly with Kathy's unexpected talents for training the strippers and with the aid of Ron, Kathy's former boss who knows all about what goes on in working men's clubs. The characters face further challenges when Teresa has twins and the world of the working mens clubs comes tumbling down. Teresa comes up with a new business idea and they (Kathy, Barry, Ron, Teresa and the twins) relocate to Malaga. All of Teresa's dreams for respectability, security and family come true. Her mother Kathy and Ron are about to get married and the twins, Noel and Nick, are due to take up their places at Oxford University fulfilling everything Teresa wanted. There's a flashback to the strippers and Teresa, Kathy and Barry making a contribution during the Miners Strike. To her horror, Teresa finds out that the twins aren't so keen on taking up their places and she find out they confided in their dad and Kathy and Ron. Teresa throws a wobbler and disappears leaving everyone in a state of panic. Barry finds her and after she's had time to think, Teresa apologises to her mother for almost ruining her wedding and accepts the change of plan by the the twons Noel and Nick. She listens to their plans to start a business of their own. She didn't want to know earlier on but now she's all for it. She starts to make plans to join in forgetting that it isn't her business idea. The wedding is great and everyone is happy and the strippers make an appearance. The play ends with Barry realising he has his hands full making sure that the twins have the freedom to start their business without Teresa. It's a whole new challenge.
Number of Characters: 15
Minimum Number of Actors Required: 7
Length (in Pages): 65
Location: Gateshead, NE England, Malaga
Key Words: Comedy, 1970s, strong working class women defy the odds and set up women friendly stripping agency
Has the Play Been Produced? No
Are the Rights Available? Yes
Has the Play Been Published? No
Award nominations/wins:
Reviews:
