Tom Green
 
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I've been fortunate enough to win a competition run by the Bafta-award winning production company, Little Brother. Which means that I've signed a contract on the development of an idea for a TV series. Which is quite definitely a big opportunity.
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Great reviews for Old Bomb Theatre's production of my play Talking In Bed at Theatre 503.

London Festival Fringe ★★★★ "This play is a deftly-handled peek into the bedroom of four unrelated couples; and Tom Green’s observational comedy is highly watchable... What binds the characters most is that communication issues sleep under almost all pillows and, as the story unfolds the bedroom seems increasingly like a make-or-break gauntlet. Not everyone does makes it, but the insightful writing and honed direction keep you right there with them"

Remotegoat ★★★★ "Sharp, funny, touching, dramatic, thoughtful"

Spoonfed:  "Tom Green’s punchy play, Talking In Bed at Theatre 503 oozes the sometimes uncomfortable truths experienced by bed-sharers, lovers and mismatches alike...Green exposes the naked truth – literally – and delves into the unspoken, unnamed and uncomfortable with ease and simultaneous daring."


The cast for the production were: Joseph Glynn, Rachel Dale, James Holmes, Ben Farrow, Adele Lynch, Martin Pirongs Vera Chok and Dan MacLane.

Directed by Cecily Boys
Designed by Zahra Mansouri
Lighting design: Simeon Miller
Sound design: George Dennis


Photos by Ben Crawford
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Talking In Bed 12/21/2010
 
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My new play Talking In Bed is at Theatre 503 in London from Jan 10th 2011, directed by Cecily Boys for Old Bomb Theatre Productions.
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For Ever England 09/16/2010
 
My new radio drama, For Ever England, will be broadcast as an Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm on 22nd September 2010 (and will be on BBC iPlayer for a week after that).

The cast is Gerard Horan, Tracie Bennett, Claire Harry, Alison Pettitt and Carl Rice and it is directed by Toby Swift.

The summary from the BBC Programmes page is:
Now living abroad, Steve discovers his estranged son Matt has been killed serving in Afghanistan. He returns to England anxious to do the right thing. But how do you begin to grieve for a child you never really knew?

Update: 
The Daily Mail ★★★★ "A tough and moving drama"
The Independent "Pick of the day"
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Gerard Horan
Here's the For Ever England script - not quite the final version, but close enough.
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I've started hosting regular (roughly monthly) podcasts for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

The first includes an interview with writer Jack Thorne and a discussion about the impact on writers of public spending cuts.

The podcasts can be played online, or downloaded from iTunes.
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The run of my new play, Fighting, at the Brockley Jack, ended on Saturday. I was pretty much overwhelmed by the response it got - after the final performance a local regular told the assembled cast that it was the best show she'd ever seen at the venue.

It was a real pleasure working with the director Kate Bannister and the entire cast and crew.

Fighting
By Tom Green
First produced at the Brockley Jack theatre in London, February 2010

Directed by Kate Bannister

Cast: Daniel Brennan, Peter Clapp, Martin Durrant, Davin Eadie, Alex Gatehouse, Laura Glover, Lucy Gratton, Annabel Pemberton

Production: Karl Swinyard & Tanith Lindon
Design: Kate Bannister & Karl Swinyard
Costume: Tanith Lindon
Sound design: Joe Churchman
Lighting: William Ingham
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My new play, Fighting, will be performed at the Brockley Jack (23-27 February).  Tickets are now on sale.

The play is part of the theatre's Write Now season, alongside Compression by Joy Wilkinson and The Bitch From Brixton by Kate Gallon and Kate-Lynn Hocking. Why not come and see them all?
Fighting by Tom Green

Directed by Kate Bannister

Cast: Daniel Brennan, Peter Clapp, Martin Durrant, Davin Eadie, Alex Gatehouse, Laura Glover, Lucy Gratton, Annabel Pemberton

Production: Karl Swinyard & Tanith Lindon
Design: Kate Bannister & Karl Swinyard
Costume: Tanith Lindon
Sound design: Joe Churchman
Lighting: William Ingham
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The Habit Of Art 01/11/2010
 
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I wonder if Alan Bennett specified how old the writer should be in his new play The Habit Of Art. Author of a play (within the play) at the National Theatre about an imagined meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten, he is, in this production, in his mid-30s.

While I enjoyed the play enormously, I didn't think for a moment that this character had written what we were seeing on stage - even the deliberately weird bits. And perhaps that didn't matter.

But, given that some of the strongest moments in the play come when Auden urges Britten to stop pussyfooting around and deal with things head-on, it's tempting to ponder whether Bennett thought about making the writer himself.


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My new play Fighting will be produced by the Brockley Jack theatre in south east London from 23-27 Feb 2010.

Here's the press release:

Write Now: new play season for southeast London at the Brockley Jack Theatre

Thank you to all writers and companies who submitted scripts to the Brockley Jack Theatre for our festival of new writing in February and March 2010. The theatre received a tremendous amount of scripts from writers based throughout south London.

With some very strong writing and unique voices to consider, it was a challenge to come to the final decisions on the plays we will be working with on this occasion.

In February and March we will be giving the first public performances of Joy Wilkinson's Compression, Tom Green's Fighting and Kate Gallon and Katelynn Hocking's Ruthless. Further details of the productions will be released shortly.

 Update (1st March): Fighting - script and production shots
Here's the leaflet for the Write Now Season:
Fighting by Tom Green

Directed by Kate Bannister

Cast: Daniel Brennan, Peter Clapp, Martin Durrant, Davin Eadie, Alex Gatehouse, Laura Glover, Lucy Gratton, Annabel Pemberton

Production: Karl Swinyard & Tanith Lindon
Design: Kate Bannister & Karl Swinyard
Costume: Tanith Lindon
Sound design: Joe Churchman
Lighting: William Ingham
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Watching Brecht's Mother Courage recently at the National Theatre, I was reminded of the character of Johnny Rooster Byron in Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth.

Both Courage and Rooster are charismatic outsiders who inspire loyalty bordering on devotion, despite their oft-expressed cynicism and self-interest. Both have a strong hedonistic streak and refuse to compromise. And both, in many ways, are victims of mainstream society who could easily be pitied.

I suppose these characters might be called antiheroes  - they certainly have things in common with characters in this list (which, fabulously, includes Arthur Dent). But I also like the term 'Machiavel' (derived from Machiavelli) that I found recently in Jonathan Bate's book about Shakespeare, Soul Of The Age.

In Elizabethan times, Bate explains, Machiavelli's writings were widely demonised and a writer like Marlowe only gave voice to them in patently 'evil' characters.

Shakespeare, however, while 'recognising the theatrical charsima of the Marlovian Machiavel', makes them real characters with real motivations. Characters like Richard III, Iago and Edmund in King Lear who 'say the unsayable' and challenge conventional thinking.

That's what Courage and Rooster do, too.  And like, Shakespeare's characters, though appearing to be completely cyncial, deep down they are in fact supremely principled.

That's why they break our hearts.
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