Every year  the Southend Playwriting Festival  puts on fresh plays for public performance. They were established in 2010 to bring new ‘voices’ to the theatre by presenting the work of new and aspiring playwrights as rehearsed readings by professional actors. Such works and performances it was hoped would bring forth fresh material and would provide exciting and entertaining evenings for their audiences, and in turn inspire others to write and submit their own plays in future years.  This year they received over 400 plays from writers in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Finland, and Canada.  I’m pleased to bask in the glory of my brother (Colin Riley) whose play Remember, Remember, 1605 was performed in Southend and in Chelmsford.
Although only fifteen minutes long, it involved six speaking parts and as you might expect it was thought provoking and excellent focussing on the anti-Catholic sentiments of the day.
I look forward to next year.