Playwrights in Lockdown: Season 1

So I did a thing. As lockdown began to sink in - and particularly the realisation that I wasn’t going to get to the theatre for months, possibly a year or more - I thought I wanted to do something small just to keep the conversation going. And one thing I love doing is talking to my fellow playwrights. And frankly most of them are sat at home, like me, on government orders, so it seemed a good time to try to set up some online interviews. The idea is purely to talk about the writer’s life, their processes, their ideas, ow they develop plays, how they actually write, rewrite, whether they encounter writer’s block and more. And then, I like to dig down a bit on a particular play, just to find out how the general processes are brought to bear on a unique play.

I’m pleased with how the first six have turned out. The playwrights have all been extraordinarily generous with their time, open about their processes, funny and thoughtful and full of insight and wisdom.

It’s been an interesting learning process for me; I’ve created the graphics at the beginning and end, made the music, figured out how iMovie works, worked out how to upload to YouTube and create a channel. They are rough and ready but I’ve been lucky with wifi connections and the interviews have needed little editing. I am sure everyone understands the conditions under which they’ve been made and isn’t expecting something broadcast-standard.

Here are the first six:

• Lucy Kirkwood https://youtu.be/Lvg1LvXQF3c

• Alistair McDowall https://youtu.be/ioTHctF4_lA

• David Greig https://youtu.be/_1Xu5wmTvDg

• Tim Crouch https://youtu.be/SOch42wQGl4

• Moira Buffini https://youtu.be/r1RVKc2N0Cw

• Zinnie Harris https://youtu.be/2Yng_ntcWyo

More to follow!