In late 2020, on saying goodbye to four decades of work in academia, I resolved to devote time to something that had been bubbling up in my thinking for quite a while: the desire to continue writing, but to do so in a more creative and inventive manner. True, I’d recently written a biography whichContinue reading “Heading Home: a miscellany of writings”
Category Archives: Playwriting
Five days at the Fringe: first performances of Cicely and David
Here’s my journal of 16-20th August 2022 at the Edinburgh festivals. The shows are back with ‘in person’ audiences and the place is buzzing. Meanwhile, I’m in a dual state of excitement and trepidation. The reason? 16th August will see the premiere of my first play: Cicely and David. It tells the story of aContinue reading “Five days at the Fringe: first performances of Cicely and David”
My play reaches the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The year was 1947. David Tasma was just 40 years old. A Polish migrant who had fled his homeland weeks before the Nazis invaded, he’d spent the war years living on the margins of London life, eventually finding employment in a Kosher restaurant in the West End. When peace came he hoped for better things.Continue reading “My play reaches the Edinburgh Fringe Festival”
Play-writing as a shared endeavour
When I first set out to write a play, I envisaged it as the lone writing task, par excellence. I thought of someone like Henrik Ibsen, exiled and working alone with only his dramatic imagination to guide him. The prospect was uncongenial. I called my friend Jo Hockley, who had once produced a play at the Edinburgh Fringe,Continue reading “Play-writing as a shared endeavour “
Quotidian 