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| Sam with his award winning script |
Stafford Gatehouse Youth Theatre member Sam Simkin may only be 14 years old
but not only has he begun scriptwriting he has just been awarded Most Promising
Young Playwright in the Trinity College International Playwriting Competition,
which had hundreds of entries from 25 countries. We met with Sam to find out
more.
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre: Hi Sam, tell us a
little about yourself and how long you have been with SGYT:
Sam: I joined SGYT in 2012 after taking part in
Summer School for the first time that year. I also joined MYTS (Musical Youth
Theatre Stafford) that year too and currently study at BOA (Birmingham Ormiston
Academy) It all spiralled off the back of the summer school production of Peter
Pan!
SGT: What made you start writing and enter the
competition?
Sam: The year I joined Summer School was when I
discovered I liked script writing. I wrote a few things, I think you have to
keep writing to get up to a good standard and have written seven plays so far.
The ideas are always in the back in my mind. I wrote a play for Gnosall Players
for the Gnosall Festival called The Community Centre which was a comedy play,
and after I wrote that I took a break to find my style. I like plays with
comedy which also tackle an issue. My sister spotted the advert for the
playwriting competition in Stafford Library, and when I started at BOA I had an
hour to wait at the train station every morning so started working on it then.
There was a very long, painful waiting period after submitting it, then I
finally received an email from them when I wasn’t expecting it. I thought it
was going to say “thanks for submitting but you weren’t successful” but it
actually said “Dear Sam, well done you are a most promising playwright”, I felt
numb for a while!
SGT: What is your play about?
Sam: It’s for young performers; the category was
specifically for 12-16 year olds. With that category it would seem like it
would limit what you can write about, but actually that age group don’t need
things dumbing down. I’m in the middle of that age category so I thought if I
understood what I was writing about then others in my age group would too!
My play is called When Darkness Falls, it’s a
comedy play but tackles a big issue of homelessness and murder, focusing on a
16 year old boy called Alex.
SGT: It’s very different to the usual thing
written for or by teenagers.
Sam: I’m in the knowledge that we’re not thick, teenagers
can handle difficult issues. Also we need to know about these things! If you
write with an overlaying theme of comedy it’s easier to face the tough issues
in the play.
SGT: What are your short and long term plans?
Sam: I’m currently writing two scripts as I’m
always writing and having new ideas! In the long term I want to be a primary
school teacher but always have scriptwriting as a constant extra.
SGT: Are there any playwrights who have influenced
you?
Sam: Believe it or not I don’t really read plays,
I’m more of a musical person actually! I love the musical Parade and the book
is so well conceived and put together, so that’s the one book of a musical that
I’ve loved reading.
SGT: Thanks for speaking to us Sam and
congratulations again!
You
can find out more about Sam’s award winning play When Darkness Falls and his
other work on his Twitter account @SamSimkinScript
Sam
will also be performing in the SGYT production of Alice By Heart, in The MET
Studio Wednesday 4th – Friday 7th June. You can book your tickets here
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