Resistance

Four history plays about speaking to power. Includes Come Again?, Passed On, Duty Free, and Wilkes for Mayor. For purchasing details please see the Publications page.

Come Again?

The language barrier is the least of worries for Anglo-Saxon couple Erik and Elfriede in their dealings with Norman invader Roger.

Passed On

Tells of the growth of English nonconformism following the Peasants’ Revolt, from the celebrated theologian John Wyclif in Oxford through lay preachers in the Midlands and West Country to the uprising against Henry V led by Sir John Oldcastle, the prototype for Shakespeare’s Falstaff. The true story of Falstaff and Hal. Originally commissioned for the BBC Drama series ‘Churchill’s People’, this stage version appeared as a staged reading at St Mary-in-the-Castle, Hastings.

Duty Free

Rich grew up in Folkestone and never quite accepted his parents’ excuse (’the war’) for leaving him alone and coming back from Flushing in Holland with his seemingly favoured brother Joe. When Joe takes after his father and begins coming back from ‘over there’ with unexplained bottles of brandy and French luxury goods, Rich’s response is to join the Volunteers protecting Britain’s coasts from the foreign invader Napoleon. No wonder that the mysterious Neal sees him as a likely recruit for British intelligence in Flushing, spying on, amongst other, his own brother; a connection which comes in handy when, after the war, the latter is caught red-handed at his old trade. First seen as a rehearsed reading in costumes (by Catherine Westray) at Hastings and Folkestone, it later transferred to open the Soho Theatre’s studio.

Wilkes for Mayor

When John Wilkes returns from exile in France after his scurrilous assault on King George III, few people believe the radical maverick will go far - that’s assuming he can get out of prison. Associate John Horne does his best to help him manipulate the London Aldermen who control the City, and together they renew the radical assault on the King. But is Wilkes grateful? Nah. The scrap between ‘The ‘Two Johns’ is almost as fierce as that with His Highness. Shrewdly telling about political egos.