A writer prepares.

2006-10-08T16:27:00.000Z

I am about to embark on the second installment of my trilogy of plays known as Veg Boy and this blog will follow my progress.

The first part is called The Diversification of Veg Boy and charts the story of two farmers struggling to diversify after foot and mouth has devastated their farm. Yet strange things are a foot, after a freak accident one of the farmers develops a superpower.

The story is set on a farm in Yorkshire and was inspired by watching my friends and family go through the foot and mouth crisis and how they are now struggling to diversify, in other words, do something different. The tag line for the play is; With the government expecting farmers to produce miracles, one does.

The play was first performed at Manchester's 24:7 Theatre festival and was a great success and will now mark Sheep Town Theatre Company's debut as The Mart Theatre in Skipton's resident theatre company in January, on the 11th, 12th and 13th.

In the play we deal with the ridiculous concept of diversification in farming. For some farmers diversifying is easy and can be a smooth transition, but it all depends on opportunity. If, like one my friends, all that one has is a small hill farm there is little opportunity for diversification and the concept becomes ridiculous.

This is why one of our characters develops a superpower, because it is ridiculous. The power is an analogy for the ridiculous situation many farmers find themselves in. Also, as a big comic book fan who is fascinated by mythology, I wanted to create a new hero, a Yorkshire superhero and explore his journey.

Part two in the story is called The Globalisation of Veg Boy and I will keep you posted on my writing process, research and progress here.