Projects
I have been writing for stage and broadcast media for almost ten years. Here are just a few of my most recent projects.
It Is So Ordered
“A society should not be judged on how it treats its best, but how it treats its lowest”
More than half a century after the Harlem Race Riots of 1964, officers put in place to protect citizens are still unjustly persecuting African Americans. It Is So Ordered asks how far have we actually come since those hot July nights?
When a twelve year old boy is coerced by the police into describing a crime he never saw, the consequences of his false testimony reverberate for half a century. Inspired by true events, It Is So Ordered charts the tragic story of two men linked by a lie and explores the power of forgiveness in an unforgiving world.
Set during the outbreak of wrongful and racially motivated imprisonments in 1960’s America, It Is So Ordered explores the racial injustice caused during this period and the repercussions which are still being felt to this day.
The play received a full length production at the Pleasance Theatre (London) in April 2017. It was produced by Changing Face, support by the Old Vic New Voices and developed through the Park Theatre's Script Accelerator programme.
Haste Ye Back
Ella That’s the spirit I miss, Wolfie. I dinnae recognise anyone anymore. I tell ye before, I didnae have to worry about who my neighbour was or where they came from.
Wolfie Maxwell? He’s from Dumfries, isnae!?
In 2015, David Cameron pledged to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020. One of the locations selected for this resettlement was the Isle of Bute in Scotland. As of November 2019, 31 families have been resettled there and upon their arrival they are permitted to remain in the UK for five years.
After the sudden death of a local elderly widow, pregnant Syrian refugee Maya is resettled in her bungalow on the remote Isle of Bute in Scotland. However, her plans to make the island her home are met with resistance from a homeless war veteran who refuses to give up the ghosts of the past.
Haste Ye Back is about impermanence and belonging. In a world where your home can be taken from you in an instant, how can we ever feel truly safe?
The play has received online readings with the Dramatists's Guild, AboutFace Ireland and the New Works Playhouse. It was also shortlisted for the ETPEP Award in 2019. In November 2022, it received a staged reading at the Criterion Theatre.
Here I Was Born
SAM
The closest I ever get to sleep is when his words are behind my eyes. Try it. Lay back and listen
SIREN
How will I know when I'm asleep?
SAM
You'll dream.
In another England…
Jim and Sam Mullen have embarked on their annual holiday to the coast. It’s the middle of June, the weather is miserable and they’re confined to their Winnebago. Jim is looking forward to a trip to the Owl Sanctuary and Sam is along for the ride, that is until someone walks out of the sea and collapses in front of them. With their well-worn rituals now disrupted, they take in the stranger and give them a place to stay. However, they soon learn the true origins of their guest and their attitudes change dramatically.
They have taken in a Siren.
An obedient organically grown slave tailored to suit the purposes of their owner. They were becoming increasingly popular until some unexpected malfunctions resulted in a number of violent incidents. After this, the entire line of Sirens were hastily decommissioned and the country was urged to report any unclaimed sirens for destruction. What washes up on the shore is a remnant of that history and the main conflict of this story is Jim and Sam’s struggle to decide what to do with their uninvited guest. Do they hand it over to the authorities or give it a chance at life?
This project originally started as play and was developed with the North Wall Arts Centre as part of their TheatreCraft programme in 2016. Since then I have started adapting it into a television series.
Concrete Rose
"A life lived in light does not guarantee growth. To thrive in the dark is what has real worth."
A modern love story which takes place in the multi-cultural inner-city comprehensive education system. Derrick is your typical rude-boy, all bravado and lust. Safiaa is a "good Muslim" girl,fearful of her brother's mean-temper. In theory they would have nothing in common but Derrick's prejudices are challenged when he realises that Safiaa is leading a double-life as the enigmatic triple-threat performer S-Gyal.
As a relationship starts to blossom between them they face resistance on all sides. Derrick's judgemental friends cannot understand what he see's in Safiaa and her over-protective family seek to prohibit her from his "unruly" influence. They must learn to determine their own identities in order to find love and meaning in a world which seems to fight it at every turn.
I have been working on the script for this feature length film with director Henry Simpson-Gray (H MAN) for over two years now. It is based on our own experiences growing up in an inner-city London comprehensive school in the early 2000's.
The Singling
"You’s colonised us for 800 odd years, the least you could do is buy us a wee pint?”"
October 2022
Niall visits the small Irish town of Carrick-on-Suir, mourning the recent death of his father, to investigate a discovery he’s made that his father inexplicably gifted away their family home in Ireland. He heads to the Kickham Inn where he enlists local lad Eoghan to help him find the property.
December 1998
Niall’s dad Joe visits Carrick, mourning the recent death of his father, on a mission to settle the sale of his family home and severe all ties with the country that birthed him. In the Kickham Inn, he meets local lad Quinn who has just found out he's going to be a father.
Little do these men know, these two trips are inextricably linked in ways that will reverberate for generations...
The Singling is concerned with how intergenerational trauma reverberates through time and asks how can future generations reckon with the sins of their fathers?
The play was initially developed as part of Nursery Theatre's Flourish Festival and an extract was performed at the Golden Goose Theatre in December 2023.