It’s really exciting to have the Theatre Broad production in Edinburgh tonight. Not that I don’t enjoy heading off to visit other theatres and performance spaces, because I certainly do. All the same, it’s a thrill to know one of my plays is on at a theatre near me.

And that is The Pleasance Theatre on the Pleasance (think Edinburgh University Gym folks) 0131- 650 4673, if you get lost. At 7.30 pm

I learned a lot about writing plays there from Colin Mortimer during his Febfest classes. This has left me with a love of the Jungle Book – how hard is studying for next week when watching that film is the homework? So I would say, if asked, that Edinburgh University’s dedication to drama has played a big part in my playwriting career. Once you’ve experienced the thrill of sitting around in unheated spaces, auditioning student actors and attending rehearsals in other unheated spaces, once the key-holder can be found, why would you opt for any other medium?

Equally the flame has been kept burning by the WEA classes of Liz Hare and the competitions run by Edinburgh Writers’ Club. Liz’s classes in the wonderful surroundings of Riddle’s Court led on to several performances there, when it became for several years a fringe venue. Edinburgh Writers’ Club is one of, if not the, oldest Writers’ groups in Scotland. It’s a gem of its kind and if you want to know more about it go here:

http://www.lothianlife.co.uk/2012/05/a-nursery-of-the-talents-%e2%80%93-edinburgh-writers-club/

Look forward to meeting any readers of this blog tonight. Come up and say hullo.