Not Right Now Doesn’t Mean Never

It’s been more than 6 months since my last post. I’d hoped that around now I’d be talking to you all about provisional dates and funding bids and the general process of taking this play on tour.

Unfortunately that’s not happening right now.

There are lots of reasons for this but, fundamentally, it’s because I’m a sole producer trying to manage this project alongside a whole career. The burden of pushing this play over the hill is just too much for me. With a little more support, an easier funding landscape, more proactive buy in from venue partners etc etc this would be way more doable. But it just isn’t right now, not without making myself unwell (well, more unwell than I am already).

This is a damning indictment of the arts at the moment. I am far from the only artist I know who’s dealing with these headwinds or been forced to abandon promising ideas because they aren’t superhuman. The fact that there aren’t the resources to support artists who don’t come from fantastic amounts of wealth, especially when those artists are Black and trans and neurodivergent is one of the many reasons this fuckass country is unworthy of our labour.

Rant over.

I’m going to take a break from this play for a while; it’s been my main artistic focus for over 2 years now. I have ideas and half baked plans that can keep me more than occupied and then, maybe, I’ll be able to use this newsletter to tell you all about other things.

But not now doesn’t mean never.

I fully intend to bring my Sad Little Gay Play to life one day. I have every intention of taking it on the road so I can make as many queers as possible weep the kind of cathartic tears that only theatrical tragedy can produce. But for that to happen, I need to build up the strength and resources to do it.

Thank you all for all your support over the past year and I look forward to sharing screenshots of an absurd number of drafts for a different play soon.