You have just been announced as the winner of Theatre Uncut's first ever Political Playwriting Award – congratulations! Tell us a bit about your play?
Thanks very much! The play's called two Palestinians go dogging and it very much does what it says on the tin: it's about two Palestinians who go dogging. But they're doing it in a village on the West Bank, some time in the 2020s. And they're doing it against the back drop of a Third Intifada. So the play ends up being a brash, violent comedy – and drama – which tells the story of how that uprising began, and how it ultimately came to an end.
How long have you been writing plays for, and how did you get into doing it?
I haven't been writing for that long – I didn't focus on it properly until I got to university which is about six years ago now. I hadn't thought much of drama at school, I didn't go to the theatre much as a kid, and usually spent my time glued to the TV. But when I got to university, there was suddenly a whole world of opportunities and I jumped right in. After a bit of directing, I realised that writing was the thing I really wanted to do. For a while, it felt like a slightly embarrassing hobby that would never amount to anything, but – for the moment at least – it seems to be paying off!
What did you think of the drama lessons you received at secondary school?
To be completely honest, I didn't do much drama at secondary school: I was (and still am) a terrible actor and I always hated English lessons – so that meant I never felt like I fitted in with the drama clique. I know a couple of people from school who've gone on to work in theatre – but I didn't properly get into theatre until university.
What do you think about the state of drama education today?
I don't feel like I can speak on this with much expertise but, from the outside, it felt like a lot of the focus of drama was on acting. And that's understandable, but as someone who couldn't act I did feel like there wasn't a place for me. It wasn't until I was out of university that I realised just how many jobs there actually are in theatre, so it would be fantastic to see that range represented more in drama education. Other than that, I know – when cuts come – drama's one of the first things to go, so a broader, more valued drama education is something I'd love to see more of.
What impact do you hope that your work might have on young people?
The thing that put me off theatre as a kid was that it had this reputation for being dry and tedious. So I'd love a young person to see this play and realise that theatre's capable of telling exciting, fun, complex stories from unusual sources. I'd love to give a young person interested in theatre the same reaction that I had when I started reading and watching brilliant plays: I didn't realise theatre could do that. Beyond that, I'd want the piece to have the same impact on young people as I hope it does on adults: to shake up people's assumptions and stereotypes about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and hopefully frame things in a new light.
Do you have any words of advice for young people who may be considering writing plays or even pursuing a career as a playwright?
It's what everyone says, but there's good reason for it: keep writing. The more you write, the better you'll get – it's a muscle that needs exercising. I'm very much at the bottom of the ladder, but I think the thing that's helped me most is having the confidence to move on to new projects. I always get impatient and want to start writing something new, and I think that impulse has served me well. Obviously everyone's different, but for me it was better to try something new, and keep exercising the writing muscle, rather than getting bogged down on one project. Beyond that, just do everything you can to get your work performed. Whether that's getting friends to read your stuff aloud, submitting plays to theatres, to short play nights, to scratch nights, anything like that.
What's next for you?
More writing! At the moment I've got a fast-approaching deadline to finish off a piece for a drama school. And after that, hopefully some radio work, some film work, and more theatre work. two Palestinians is also going to be on at the start of next year, so at some point I'll need to redraft it, ready to go into rehearsals.