Having studied theatre in Liverpool, film at Warwick University and scriptwriting with New Writing South in Brighton, I spent years working in educational management and publishing before the Peoples Company at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal brought me back to theatre.

 

In 2009, my short play “Cost of Living” was published in Enigma magazine in London. The Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter then gave me my first break with rehearsed readings of my short plays: “Next”, “No Signal” and “Dreams of Monica Frog”. “No Signal” was subsequently one of the five winners of the Port Eliot Festival’s Short Comedy Play Competition in 2010, and “Next” was short-listed in the same year for the Pint Sized Plays Festival in Pembrokeshire.

 

Also in 2010, I received Amnesty International’s Human Rights Playwriting Award with my first full length play “the advocate”, a dark romance of real Devon characters in the English Civil War, which had a rehearsed reading in London under the guidance of an RSC director. The play would have toured with the Watermill Theatre in Newbury in 2011, but Arts Council cuts weren’t kind.

 

I wrote up the research from “the advocate”’ and it was published by the History Press as “The Devil Comes to Dartmoor” in November 2011. It’s selling very well, with 5 star reviews and it was a book of the month with Family Tree magazine.

 

My short play “Room” was very well received by the Theatre Royals in Bath and Bristol, and in December 2011, Pilots Thumb Theatre Company performed their own devised version, called “Touched” having developed the story into a full-length play.

 

The History Press then asked me to write a second book for them called "Bloody British History Plymouth", a sort of 'horrible histories' for grown-ups. That came out to 5 star reviews in 2012, and got me involved with a lot of exciting events during the 2013 Plymouth History Festival.

 

I'm currently writing my third book "Coast of Spies", coming out in 2014, and working on a couple of fiction novels, while still writing poetry and short prose for Reflections magazine and others.

 

The BBC like my TV writing, but nothing commissioned yet. I've got another script heading out to them soon. I was one of 5 winners out of thousands of entries for Stephan Shakespeare's co-producer film script competition, so I'm still interested in writing for films when I get the time!

 

Look out for me on facebook. More excerpts of future work will be posted on this website shortly, and I've just been appointed as a book reviewer and regular contributor for Hidden Heritage's new website - more details to follow.

 

Any questions? Don't hesitate to get in touch.