On Writing a Play

I’ve been writing poetry for about twenty years now, and I mostly write narrative poems. So, when I started going up to the Edinburgh Fringe in the late 2010s, I got really into the idea of producing long-form live literature shows. 

The first show I wrote was called Skip, Skip, Skip, and it was an autobiographical, one-hour piece that I performed at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe. It was a nostalgic and heartfelt show about music, friendships, and accidentally becoming a teenage goth in rural Norfolk in 2002. 

I really loved the process of writing the show. I liked telling a cohesive story in a long-form, theatrical context – something I’d never done before – and I loved making something that really seemed to resonate with people. But I found the performance side of the process really challenging, especially having to learn an hour’s worth of words. My brain just doesn’t work like that, and the nerves really got to me. 

Next time I write something like that, I thought to myself, I’ll write it for proper actors to perform. 

Then, my playwrighting aspirations got sidelined by the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, and needing to make enough money to keep the cat fed and watered. But, the universe hadn’t forgotten about me…

In 2022, I was invited to a training day for artists and creatives looking to get involved in rural touring. The event was organised by Live & Local, an organisation that brings theatre, music and performance to small venues in towns and villages across the Midlands. They specialise in taking work out into local communities, and they wanted to chat to theatremakers, writers and performers about putting together shows specifically made for rural touring. 

At that event, I met Vivi Bayliss, a young director based in the West Midlands. We got talking and found out we had a lot in common: we both loved comedy, we both had a history degree, and we both grew up in rural places (albeit on different sides of the UK). So, we decided to kick around some ideas and put together a script. 

We knew we both wanted to write a story that centred rural places, exploring what tourism, economic decline and gentrification look like in the modern British countryside, but in a light-hearted, accessible, and fun way. 

So, we started working on the script for the show. I managed to get a small grant from the Fenton Arts Trust to write the first draft, and we started getting excited about the story. 

It took us about a year to complete the first draft of the script. Once it was written, it was time to start putting together a funding bid together for an Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant. 

For those who don’t know, the Arts Council is the main funding body for the creative arts in England, and they fund projects right across the industry, from Opera to Theatre, to Visual Arts to Spoken Word, and everything in between. 

Usually, theatremakers apply to the Arts Council in three stages:

1. Research & Development 

2. Rehearsals/Getting Ready to Tour 

3. Touring 

We applied for stage one R&D money back in May 2024, and were not expecting to get a positive response. Just over half of funding bids fail on their first try, and even though we had an incredible team booked for the project, we still weren’t sure we would get our funding.

But then we did!!

So, next week is our first week of R&D in the rehearsal space, and I can’t wait to see how the actors, director and dramaturg respond to the piece. We’re working with a fantastic creative team, some wonderful partner organisations and a brilliant roster of creative and practical mentors. This is only the first rung on the ladder, but it’s a step in the right direction, and an incredible opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in!

BUT LEANNE, WHAT IS THE SHOW ACTUALLY ABOUT? 

Kingmaker follows Fiona Prendergast – an over-enthusiastic tour guide living in an isolated rural hamlet – who accidentally orchestrates an archaeological hoax of epic proportions in a vain attempt to save her job and put her village on the international map. It’s a funny and relatable story about telling ‘small’ lies for the greater good, telling stories about the places where you live, and telling the truth, even though it might cost you everything. It’s a play about outsiders and belonging, intention and impact, and the ways rural communities can change in a fast-paced world. Kingmaker is part comedy, part panto, part interactive experience, and all heart. Expect jokes, poetry, and skull with an eye patch!

Image via Unsplash.com 

If you’d like to hear more about the process of the R&D, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to share a few more blogs in the coming weeks! And thank you to Arts Council England, who are funding the R&D.