An Interview with Tom Wells
Tom’s play, The Kitchen Sink, is the first recipient of the Simon Gray Award at the Bush Theatre, which each year supports a new piece of writing. The Kitchen Sink runs from 16th November to 17th December at the Bush Theatre.
For more details and to book tickets, visit the Bush Theatre website.
How did The Kitchen Sink come about?
It was commissioned by The Bush, while I was doing something at the Arcola. I was invited to the Bush, and we had a little chat where I told them what my idea was, and then I went away and wrote it. It was all quite straight forward, really.
What idea did you start with?
I wanted to write a play about a family who were quite nice to each other. Lots of people write about families who are nasty to each other, but that’??s not what I know. When I showed it to my Dad he said, ‘??there’s a lot of home in this, Tom’??. But it’??s the only family I have, and you have to write about what you know. In fact, all my plays are set around Withernsea, near Hull, and quite domestic.
How did The Bush help you develop the play?
I did the first draft and then got a few notes from Josie Rourke -?? Artistic Director of The Bush. The material was all there in the first draft, but there was no plot to speak of. It was just people sitting around. Josie suggested how I could bring out certain things. Like the milk float goes wrong in the autumn â?- in the first draft it happened out of nowhere. Josie suggested making more of it, and so there is the bit of the milk float on the sink at the start. She taught me about planting something if you want it to happen later on or at the end. In the first draft I didn’t really explain lots of things. One bit I added is a scene between Billy and Martin when Billy gets accepted to art school. I realised that I’??d never explained that Billy got accepted in the first draft. But it gave the opportunity to have a scene with his Dad, which is good because it gives that extra connection at the end.
What plays or playwrights have influenced you, in this or any other of your plays?
I’??ve always loved the kitchen sink plays. They’??re the things that I read first, when I started training to be a playwright. Look Back in Anger – Osborne, Delaney etc. And I think one of the main things they’??ve done is to lead to a type of TV comedy -?? things like The Royle Family, Gavin & Stacey and Mike Leigh. It’??s very detailed. When I started I thought I might play with the genre a bit. I like the idea of writing a kitchen sink play where the sink is a character, as a kind of tribute. I thought of writing a year in the life of a kitchen sink, and it has become that in a way. Pete is there as an outsider to the kitchen sink set-up, as someone who doesn’??t have a family and misses what everyone else in the play has. But itâ??s also quite handy that heâ??s training to be a plumber, so he can actually fix the sink.
So is it a happy family?
They are a functioning family â?? it works â?? but they’??re not very order xanax online cheap good at talking to each other. Everyone has a thing that they want to do, and everyone apart from Martin is doing that at the end. Martin is doing what he wants to do at the beginning, but the world changes around him and leaves him behind. A lot of the scenes I’??ve still no idea if they’??re sad or funny. I hope both. The milk float being towed away is the best example of that. We’??ve done readings, but I don’??t know yet how each bit will play.
The difficulties the characters face in the play reflect a lot of the problems in the country as a whole at the moment. Was that deliberate?
I don’??t think it’s a case of trying to create a contemporary story, you just do. Itâ??s just a particular set of circumstances. Withernsea is a small place. When Woolworths closes or a Tesco opens it has a big effect. There aren’??t that many alternatives. It’??s not easy to get another job. And the milkman is an iconic figure â?? someone who has a small business in a community, and thatâ??s gone. That really affects a small community. It’s a family of quite independent people. What Martin likes about being a milkman is that it’??s sociable, and he feels valuable. Sophie is similar, though she has a different skill. Kath’??s got a different attitude to work. What she’??s good at is being a mum. Being a lollipop lady and a dinner lady is just a job.
How are the rehearsals going?
They’re a good laugh. Everyone has a family, so it’??s easy for it to come alive. Everyone has their specific roles. When Lisa, who is playing the Mum, first started rehearsing with the set she immediately started being a Mum, instinctively getting things out of cupboards and things.
The play has changed a bit too. You don’??t want to make things obvious when you’??re writing it, but then you realise in rehearsals that things need to be made clearer. You can keep refining it. But some things never quite work properly. You have to respond to what happens in rehearsals. For example, I knew I wanted Peter to be from somewhere else, and we have him coming from Preston because thatâ??s where the actor playing him is from. So thatâ??s involved changing the script a bit. But a play is never quite finished.
How did you start writing plays?
I did a course at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. It was the first time I’ve ever met other writers, or seen new plays. I didn’??t really like theatre before then, I didn’??t get it. When I finished uni I went back home. I dropped out of training to be a teacher, did some brief, disastrous temping, then worked in a cafe. The West Yorkshire Playhouse did this thing called, So You Want to be a Writer? You didn’??t have to have written a play, just write a letter about why you want to be a writer. I just wrote about the rubbish jobs I’??d had, and got accepted. Then we wrote a short play, and some of us then wrote a longer play. Then someone decided to take my play Me, As a Penguin on tour. That’??s how I started.
Whatâ??s next?
Now I’??m working on some short films for Channel 4, and a commission for Paines Plough and the Hull Truck.