Stage Plays
Unproduced Stage Plays:
Mom: Play
When my Mom was terminally ill with cancer, she asked me to write about her, she also said, "People should know what it's like to be where I am"... So what we have here is the story of a dysfunctional Black Country family that struggle with their relationships; argumentative, fiercely protective, fighting for the one person that was their lynchpin. It is I think both funny and moving, and of course it is autobiographical and very personal. But it is also a story that is often untold, and one that most of us will have experienced. It’s been a privilege to write it, but also emotionally draining and perhaps even healing. I didn't think much about it, but simply let the play write itself; often it took directions I really hadn’t anticipated. It has a sort of dream-like quality to it, and the family relive past moments from their lives (rather in the style of a Dennis Potter play), so that past and present intermingle, and even present events jump back and forward, sometimes picking up on events that have gone before. I don’t know what else to say; it’s been a real journey for me and a very difficult one, but the process has been helpful. I think my Mom would approve of this play and it’s wonderful to be able to fulfill her wish.
Quite Peaceful: Play
Ronald Granville died in his sleep. At least that's what everyone is telling him. Somehow he just can't believe it. This chilling black comedy charts Ronald's desperate quest to find the meaning of life at the very edge of existence, and is also a philosophical exploration of our fears and hopes.
Had a rehearsed reading at The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, won a Stagecoach prize, was short-listed for The International Playwriting Festival 2009 at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon and was short-listed for a writing award the same year by Bristol Old Vic Theatre, who later dramaturged the play.
Respect: Play
Set in the television lounge of an old people's home, four old ladies are alone, as the temporary warden has slipped out up the pub. After a while the door bursts open and four lads burst in, tanked up and out for trouble. They cause mayhem and after some time one of the ladies has had enough and decides to retaliate - this results in the whole incident, which was originally a dare escalating into something more serious. The lads now have to confront the reality of their actions, and slowly the two groups learn something about each other and themselves. Respect veers dangerously between the real possibility of violent action, black comedy and moving pathos as the difficulties, similarities, and seemingly hopeless notions of belonging of these two apparently different groups of society are explored.
I wrote this play having spent some time working with young prisoners at Brinsford Young Offenders Institute in Wolverhampton. This is a very tough prison indeed for young men aged 15-21 years. I learnt a lot from my experience there, and have come to understand that although some of course have to be punished for crimes, there are some young men that are there because of their circumstances: a broken home, abuse, poor parenting, lack of education, etc. I also spent time talking with old people in their various homes and institutions, including the staff and patients at Highcroft Hospital, and was struck by how similar these two disparate groups were; largely abandoned by society and regarded as something of a nuisance. The very old and the very young are not cared for properly, and this is what I wanted to address in Respect...
Sandman: Play
Trevor Peacock is guilty of income tax evasion, but when he enters a new prison, he is shocked to discover a regime that randomly increases prisoners sentences for petty discrepancies, and the steely governor, Mrs Black together with her vicious henchman, prison guard, Mr Mince are also intent on pushing things a lot further. When Trevor meets his cellmate, Bellman, he is horrified to learn that he is a practising cannibal, but worse is yet to come as the home office increases the prison's powers and Mrs Black is anxious to enforce the ultimate punishment... and it's not execution!
I used to work in a young offenders prison (Brinsford in Wolverhampton), and the kids there have a very tough time of it. I guess what I’m doing with Sandman is taking the general public’s attitude to offenders and what should be done with them (Bring back the birch! Hang the bastards! Take their tellies away! etc), and take it to absurd, surreal lengths!
Films
Unproduced Films:
Homo Fugue: Short Film
Inspired by 'Faustus', Homo Fugue is the story of a student living in a basement flat troubled by rumbling noises beneath his floorboards. He complains to his landlord, but the terrifying reason for the noise finally becomes clear one night when a refugee from hell smashes his way through to his room. Trapped with this naked nutter from the underworld, the hapless student learns that very soon he will also be meeting Lucifer himself... and he's not happy.
Noise: Screenplay (Film adaptation of my play)
Becky and Dan, Teenage newly-weds and parents to be. Full of hope, they're about to start a new life in the housing association flat they've just moved into. The only blot is the constant techno music pounding through the walls next door. As the musical pressure increases, so the expectations start to sour. Fault lines are exposed as the strain starts to show on Becky and Dan's relationship, reaching a climax as neighbour Matt comes crashing into their lives.
Canned Peaches In Syrup: Screenplay (Film adaptation of my play)
A hundred years of global warming has reduced the planet to a desert wasteland, peopled by dwindling tribes of vegetarians and cannibals. Ma, Pa and Julie wander the blighted landscapes of what was once a thriving metropolis in search of vegetable sustenance, but when the malicious prophet Blind Bastard shows up and discovers they are the guardians of the very last can of fruit known to mankind, and as sure as apples are apples somebody's going to die. After informing the cannibals in a nearby canyon that there is fresh meat nearby, it is decided that one of them should check them out. Rog bravely wanders into their camp and before Pa can blow out his guts, his daughter falls instantly in love, triggering a Romeo and Juliet journey that spirals dangerously into passion, mayhem and destruction beneath the background of a doomed world. The world is divided into two tribes of nomadic humans: Cannibals and Vegetarians. Can star-crossed lovers Rog and Julie cross tribal lines?! Can Rog's taste for flesh be suppressed?! Can Julie deny her parents' "meat is murder" mantra?! And, who exactly is Blind Bastard? A lone can of peaches in syrup hold their fate... and the fate of all mankind.
TV Plays
Unproduced TV Plays
The Yard - TV Drama series, co-written with the playwright Kate Dean.
Set in the spectacular countryside of the Wye Valley, cradled in the lee of the Malvern Hills, The Yard is a comedy drama series concerning the setting up of a livery yard: the diversification project of Jude, a struggling dairy farmer and his fecund wife Eve. It is an earthy cocktail of the many different class types that live and work in our rural landscape – think Monarch Of The Glen meets Shameless. The series is written by two established multi award winning national and international writers, Alex Jones and Kate Dean. Kate herself is currently running a livery yard from a dairy farm, and has extensive knowledge and access to farming sources. Alex has worked on local farms and has a teenage daughter who has a horse on Kate's livery yard. This series will be unique, hard-hitting, but funny and always totally realistic. © Alex Jones and Kate Dean. 2nd June 2005.
Radio Plays
Unproduced Radio Plays
We Sang Shang-A-Lang - Radio Play
It’s 1974 and things are not cool for Peter Legge, Spider, Bradda and Big D, school-leavers and best mates, cast adrift in an uncaring adult world in a bleak town in The Black Country. Their attempts to down large quantities of beer, chat up birds and generally enjoy life constantly end in disaster, despair and for Pete the ultimate humiliation of the “apprentice initiation ceremony”. Never mind, Pete’s plotting his revenge; things are bound to get better - “aren’t they?!”
Stories
Unproduced Stories
Matt Meets The Lord - Short Story
Matt, a down and out, wakes up in a side-alley to discover a strange bloke looking after him following a night of dangerous drinking. The stranger tells Matt he’s Jesus Christ, come to help him out. Matt thinks he’s a nutter... until he starts performing miracles!