I write plays, performances and events; articles and essays; scripts for television and film. I’ve written one novel. On this site I’ve assembled a selection of extracts from most of these forms and prefaced each piece with a few comments.
I started writing during the sixties, began to produce theatre scripts professionally in the seventies, added in a quantity of journalism, some film scripts and a novel in the eighties, started giving lectures and talks in the nineties.
Many of the plays and performances were written for Lumiere & Son Theatre Company, which I co-founded with Hilary Westlake in 1973. The company ran for twenty years.
I’ve written about forty plays and performances and intend to furnish excerpts from all of them. Eventually. The site will enlarge gradually as excerpts are added and essays are generated. Most of the work has been published or performed but some has never seen the light of day.
There’s a blog at the front end of the site. I’ve been told that one ought to be able to articulate the theme of such a publication. If there is one to be found in some of the entries I’ve posted so far then it’s something like ‘the leakage of theatrical values into everyday life’. That’s what interests me at the moment. Oh yes, and masculinity.
The photo used at the top of these pages was taken ‘backstage’ at a major amusement park. The workers have a cafeteria and changing rooms in a concealed compound on site, accessible from a small, unimposing door behind one of the attractions. After their breaks the costumed workers head back to the portal, pausing in front of a full-length mirror to adjust their outfits before re-entering the world of fantasy.