On the Road Again inhabits territory which has already been busily colonised by Ed Thomas. Two poetic drifters; a derelict caravan; dreams of leaving for an American pastoral. Allan gives his two chancers – Beefy and Rich – a lyrical depth. Their memories are wistful and whiskery: they argue over a dancing dog in Doncaster […]
Read More...Reviews of Flowers from Tunisia
Reviews have all the power of a sniper’s bullet and after thirty years they still have the capacity to inflict a wound that can lay me low for weeks. And even then you carry it around like a bad smell. But a good one is like an uplifting breath of wind that can keep you […]
Read More...Script Snippet: Flowers from Tunisia
Excerpt from Flowers from Tunisia Reah – Elderly Mother suffering from dementia and her son, Keith. KEITH She’s not a baby, and she’s not with us, she’s with her mother, alright. Now did you look at these questions, the ones the doctor’s going to ask […]
Read More...Radio Plays
Writing for radio has played a big part in my career and is always a hugely rewarding experience. I’ve been lucky to work for some talented producers who have put their faith in me and breathed life into my words. Jane Dauncey, Alison Hindell , Kate Rowlands, Tim Green have all played a big part […]
Read More...TV
Every play I have written has been for film or television but only one has been produced on the small screen. Every other piece of drama I have had to adapt for theatre and radio. Growing up, my world was shaped by the big screen and the little blue light in the corner of the […]
Read More...Theatre Plays
Excerpt from: The New Companion to the Literature of Wales – editor Meic Stephens ‘Born 1954 in Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan. His passionate, humane and sometimes angry concern for the plight of ordinary people is evident in much of his writing. Above all he articulates feelings of disempowerment experienced by those who find themselves caught up […]
Read More...Being an Actor
I began my apprenticeship as a writer and director by becoming an actor. In ten years in rehearsal rooms across the country I learnt some cardinal sins and immutable laws on what made a good play and how to spoil it with bad direction. Having said that bad acting can ruin both. I’ve probably done […]
Read More...Buddy Bolden Radio Excerpt
Buddy Bolden Radio Play excerpt Legend has it that the New Orleans trumpeter, Buddy Bolden invented jazz . There is not a single note recorded of his music, though legend also has it that somewhere there is lost tape. My play imagines that a Cardiff musician from Tiger Bay once had his trumpet and lost it […]
Read More...Script Snippet: I Thought I heard Buddy Bolden Shout
EXT. A NEW YORK STREET INSIDE SUMMERTIME’S HEAD WE HEAR A NEW ORLEANS STREET BAND THAT SLOWLY MERGES INTO THE SOUNDS OF NEW YORK. SUMMERTIME Open up the windows, let the music out. THE INSTRUMENTS ARE STRIPPED AWAY UNTIL THERE IS JUST THE SOUND OF A SINGLE PLAINTIVE CORNET. A DOOR CLOSES ON THE MUSIC AND THE […]
Read More...Lilac Ladies in Haiku
THROUGH THE VORTEX TIME LORDS OF PENERENGLYN BOARD THE TERRACED TARDIS My last visit is with two groups at the Penerenglyn Project, the Lilac Ladies and the women’s quilting group. Given its position at the foot of the Rhigos mountain and my predilection to labour to its summit by bike, I fear this […]
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