incorporating writing Issue 3 Vol 4 PLAYWRIGHTS & CRITICS Wrestling with the writer: Playwrights get dirty COMPETITION GIVEAWAY PAGE 4 Sam Shepard - Kenneth Tynan - Clare Pollard Incorporating Writing Contents (ISSN 1743-0380) Editorial Team Page Editorial Managing Editor Playwrights and Critics 3 Bixby Monk G.P. Kennedy looks at being a critic and being appointed as an Editor. Guest Editor Chaz Brenchley Interviews The Right Stuff 13 Articles Editor Kevin Berger talks with playwright and Fiona Ferguson actor, Sam Shepard. Interviews Editor Articles Andrew Oldham Wrestling with the writer 7 John Terry climbs into the mind of the Reviews Editor playwright and the raucous theatre. G.P.Kennedy Columnists Early Stages 33 Andrew ODonnell, George Wallace, Clare Pollard looks at the experience of Dave Wood, Sharon Sadle writing for the Royal Court. Contributors Kenneth Tynan 45 John Terry, Kevin Berger, Clare Pollard, The first man to swear on television cut Kate Parrinder, Clare Reddaway, a critical swathe through popular culture. Bridget Whelan, Cath Nichols, Jess Greenwood Columns Cover Art ODonnell on Donaghy 11 Lisha Aquino Rooney Andrew ODonnell discusses the work of Michael Donaghy. Design Marsh Thomas Cubicle Escapee 25 Sharon Sadle drifts down the greatest Contact Details river of all. http://www.incwriters.com [email protected] Artwork Perfect Eye 29 Cover artist, Lisha Rooney exhibits some of her work. Incorporating Writing is an imprint of The Incwriters Society (UK). The magazine is managed by an editorial team independent of The Societys Constitution. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without Reviews 35 permission of the publishers. We cannot accept responsi- bility for unsolicited manuscripts, reproduction of articles, photographs or content. Incorporating Writing has endeav- oured to ensure that all information inside the magazine is Competition 4 correct, however prices and details are subject to change. Individual contributors indemnify Incorporating Writing, The Incwriters Society (UK) against copyright claims, News and Opportunities 49 monetary claims, tax payments / NI contributions, or any other claims. This magazine is produced in the UK. © The Incwriters Society (UK) 2005 3 incorporating writing Playwrights and Critics Editorial by G.P. Kennedy pages of the magazine as I recently ascended to the position of its Reviews Editor. Yes, I, GP Kennedy, comprehensive school moderate achiever have grafted my way up the greasy pole of literary criticism, the slippery slope of journalism, to achieve such a lofty and highly responsible position a proud day indeed. I make no mistake in thinking that working as a critic is nothing short of important, perhaps more. Think of all those men and women working away solitarily in their garrets, attics, bedrooms, studies, garages, multifarious outbuildings these writers. Yes, books upon books! I do not spend a day when I am not minded to remind A very warm welcome to the latest myself of the enormous fun Incorporating Writing, the Playwrights to be had and Critics edition. This time around we are featuring a coruscating interview with It is a long and lonely business into which the ever-stellar American playwright, one pours a not inconsiderable degree of Sam Shepard, the elusive cowboy of the time, money, research, creativity, stress, American Theatre. The Shepard piece frustration, and heart and soul. Should receives strong and most able support one then be successful in negotiating the from, among others, Clare Pollard as she Hadean underworld of the literary agents waxes on her experiences as a writer and publishing houses then the title of turning her attentions to the stage, and ones book, with its PR blurb, may well columns from Andrew ODonnell and appear in a catalogue, pamphlet or email Sharon Nagle. It behoves me to say, in for my consideration, along with who addition, that no edition of the magazine knows how many others in similar would be sufficiently complete nor well- positions to myself. (It behoves me to rounded without the input of a number of advise at this point that I have recently keenly critical contributors to the book completed a novel, Half Lived, and I am reviews pages: this month featuring a looking for a literary agent to take it to review of Jim Mangnalls wonderfully publishers! Just so you know where I am imagined poetic-prose tour de force, The coming from and that I am speaking not Map Maker. only from experience as a critic but very direct and ongoing experience as a I make special mention of the reviews incorporating writing 4 writer!). Thence it falls to me to pore over the catalogues, pamphlets and emails and make a series of critical and creative judgements to create for review a number of books often no more than a dozen from a total of hundreds, whose length may vary from sixty pages to six hundred; subject matter from the poetry of the Scottish Isles to an Arabian fantasy/drama/love story epic: and so it goes. In short, the task of a Reviews Editor and, subsequently, the critic is an enormously difficult, fraught, vastly WIN THE HOW TO BOOK WITH A DIFFERENCE enjoyable and endlessly varied and fascinating one. In what other sphere can Mat Cowards Success . And How To Avoid cobines humour with practical information, one be sure of a regular supply of the and is based firmly on hard-won personal possession one prizes most highly? Yes, knowledge, its a tonic, an antidote, a survival books upon books! I do not spend a day kit for every writer who is fed up with being when I am not minded to remind myself told how easy it is to write yourself a fortune. of the enormous fun to be had and the Available at www.ttapress.com great honour it is for me to hold a position in which I am able to decide Win a copy of this book by sending an email to which books are reviewed within this [email protected]. Deadline 14th October 2006 magazine. If that sounds a bit dewy- eyed, a little too redolent of brown- nosery (yes, I made up that word) then so be it. I love books; I get to select CALL FOR WRITERS books; I get to review books, here and in Incorporating Writing will go quarterly in a host of other magazines; I get to write 2007. Themes for 2007 include articles about books; then I get to keep NOVELIZATION (January), TRAVEL books. La vie est belle. Enjoy (April), REGIONAL REVOLUTION (July) Incorporating Writing it is all about and FOOD (October). Guidelines can be books! found at www.incwriters.com All enquiries and deadline details are G. P. Kennedy is Reviews Editor for Incorporat- ing Writing and a freelance writer of ten years available from: standing. Having slaved successfully in the corpo- Andrew Oldham (Interviews Editor) rate arena for seven years he turned his writing [email protected] gifts and skills to the literary world finding time to Fiona Ferguson (Articles Editor) review and write articles for a number of serious [email protected] newspapers and lofty lit mags, and complete the MA Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan G.P. Kennedy (Reviews Editor) University. After living a transatlantic life for a [email protected] couple of years, mainly between Manchester, England and the independent state of Texas, he has decided upon a relative settling down in www.incwriters.com Liverpool with the loves of his life. 5 incorporating writing 1 RedInk 1 RedInk Subscription Form Name Address Email Telephone I wish to subscribe for 1 Year £4.00 2 Years £7.00 Single Issue £2.00 Please note that all cheques must be payable to The Incwriters Society. Red Ink is governed by the The Societys constitution, further details can be found on The Societys homepage at www.incwriters.com.All cheques must be returned with subscription form to, Red Ink, c/o 10 Bottoms Fold Cottages, Micklehurst, Mossley, Lancashire OL5 9NH I understand that Red Ink is PDF magazine (electronic format) and that I will receive it via email twice a year (Summer and Winter), and that as such, I must keep Red Ink up to date with any changes in my email, this can be done so by emailing [email protected]. Neglecting to keep Red Ink up to date with my contact details and email will result in me not receiving the magazine. Signed Print Name Date All monies received go towards the running of the magazine and Aim and Objects of The Incwriters Society. Wrestling7 with the writer incorporating writing Article by John Terry To write is generally thought of as a solitary activity; pursued in garden photo taken from Soldiers directed by John Terry Sheds and garrets, delivering written things are changing, the average manuscripts to a distant, faceless approach of most directors and readership. But there are exceptions to companies is to reveal solely the this, of which the writers of drama for playwrights intentions through stage and screen are the most divergent. production, and to keep their own As a theatre director, I have been one of theories for the bar after the show. The the prime interlopers, crashing into their critics and audiences are left struggling to happy idyll to discuss, argue and decide whether it is more absurd to watch challenge their work. But theatre making a perfectly good comedy of manners is a group activity, relying on a baffling restaged on a trampoline, or an entanglement of relationships, of which obstinately traditional classic that makes those involving the playwright can be the no attempt to find relevance to the most sensitive but also the most contemporary world.