Growing up below the poverty line, my experience of theatre was a limited one: a great occasion which took a lot of ‘saving up’ for. Yet when I went to the theatre, I didn’t see lives like mine represented onstage, and it is this lack of representation that I seek to address now that I can call myself a playwright. My theatre work tells honest stories about working-class lives, often with understated humour and a ‘real-time’ feel to the action. My scripts have been performed at nine theatres and in 2022 I was the joint recipient of the Peter Lathan Prize for New Writing – an Award which meant a lot to me not only on a creative level, but also on a personal one, as Peter was the first person to review my scripts, and his praise encouraged me to keep going. Below are some examples of some of the scripts I have written for stage.
GROWN UP WRITIN’ (2023) – The Customs House
Winner of the Peter Lathan Prize for New Playwriting 2022.
Set in 2007, Grown Up Writin’ tells the story of best friends Kayleigh, 16, and Ruth, 15, as they go into their final year of formal education. Kayleigh’s after a much older lad and Ruth’s after a scholarship – but will either of them get what they want, and will their friendship survive? Grown Up Writin’ is a coming of age story about grief, ambition, pizza and reality TV. It was praised by Rob Lawson for its ‘authentic dialogue’ and commissioned by The Customs House.
Still from Grown Up Writin’ (2023) by Benjamin Smith. L-R: Ruth (Alfreya Bell) and Kayleigh (Sophie Mai) sing along to DJ Cammy. Dir. Christina Berriman-Dawson.
IMPULSE (2023) – Live Theatre
Commissioned for ‘Your Voice, Your World: North East’.
It’s Prom Night 2008, and Luce, 16, has legged it to the bog! She’s less than impressed with her sister Chez, 17, for buying her a dress without pockets – and for setting up a disastrous blind date. Inspired by my experience as an asexual woman, Impulse was praised for the strength of its writing and humour. The short play is a ‘test piece’ for a longer work on the topic.
Still from Impulse (2023) by Von Fox Productions. Luce (Mia Taylor) cries out as Chez (Jemma Martin) forces a shoe on her foot. Dir. Rosie Bowden.
FIT FOR WORK (2019) – Tristan Bates, Durham Assembly Rooms, Chapel Playhouse.
Supported by Actor Awareness & The Spare Room Festival.
After seeing many people suffer terrible downswings in their mental health after being wrongly assessed through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) process for Employment and Support Allowance, I pitched the idea of Fit for Work to Actor Awareness. I had never written a play, and had five weeks to do it when I discovered it was to be performed at The Tristan Bates Theatre as part of their Working-Class Stories season, so the story was written on pure instinct. Inspired by a true story, it follows Terry, a former plasterer and now stroke survivor, through a Work Capability Assessment by Mrs Smith – and its aftermath. The play was praised for its ‘real-time’ quality and its true-to-life scenario, but the best praise, for me, was having audience members come up and thank me for representing their lives and struggles onstage.
“What writer Louise Powell has done is to create a piece which feels like we are watching real life unfold before our eyes… her characters are real individuals, not just types.”
Peter Lathan, review of Fit for Work, 2019.
DR LOUISE POWELL 