Gill Kirk, writer

Category: writing

  • May You Live In Interesting Times: a new age of political TV drama?

    Ah, those old Chinese curses, eh? A couple of years back, I was pitching a TV drama-comedy idea to a really cracking producer. We were both excited (I think!) about the central character – an unseated MP thrown into my old work world of lobbying, with all its grey shades and the implications for her…

  • We All Have A Magic Gun…the quantum play lives…!

    I woke up last Thursday morning feeling like a child with a hundred wrapped presents at her feet. Because Wednesday’s rehearsed reading of the quantum physics play, BOX, was an utter joy.  The marvellous audience let me record the Q&A, so I can use their feedback as I work to complete the script. Here are…

  • Box: development update

    Box: development update

    Very excited to say the quantum mechanics play, Box,  has a twinkle in its eye. After some generous and insightful industry feedback over the summer, it’s having a rehearsed reading on Hallowe’en, as part of the work done by Brighton University’s Performance and Community Research and Enterprise Group. What’s that? It means I get to work…

  • Theatre Review: Switzerland

    Yep, I’ve been reviewing again. Brilliant way to sharpen the writerly craft (I hope). Sorry to say this isn’t all it could be – running til 1 Sep in Bath, with Downton Abbey’s Phyllis Logan playing Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley (and much more): “….Think of a bar-bore in their own cave…

  • Glittery Glee

    Glittery Glee

    I’ve just showed this vid to an industry pro, and realised that it might never have made it  here – apologies! It’s the 90-sec promo for Glitter Knickers, designed to help it out of its R&D box and onto the next stages. Weirdly, both the actor Lucinda Holloway and I have been asked about the…

  • A Song & Dance for your details…

    A much-loved but unproduced theatre script,  A Bit of a Song & Dance, made the BBC Drama Script Room long-list! They had a record number of entries, and a phenomenal amount to read, so I’m especially pleased – and grateful! As all writers out there know, there’s subjectivity in all of this, too, so I’m…

  • Writing Without Whips

    Writers need focus. And kindness. Lots of kindness.

  • The Stuff I Do (yippee)

    Wonderful week last week, with lots of goodies coming at once. On Tuesday, I reviewed Michael Boyd (former RSC Artistic Director)’s new show, The Open House, for Bristol 24/7. You can read the review here. Then I popped on a train, feeling all intercontinentally high-flyin’, wrote my review on the tracks & when I woke…

  • 1 year on; 3 new screenplays & a magic cauldron

    Ha, make em laugh, eh? More like, make yourself laugh. I just spotted an old post from a year ago: The Awful Art of Unwriting. It’s a confessional, where I admit to not having done a new spec screenplay (as opposed to a play) for about 5 years. In the last year, I’ve written three: one comedy…

  • No new stories? Then you’re never alone!

    Way, way back, many moons ago, I spent a disproportionate amount of my degree studying fairy tale, folk lore, myth and language. A very lucky soul, I was. I ended up examining  the evolution of one character in particular – Morgan le Fay, King Arthur’s half-sister. A powerful woman in every version of the tale,…

  • Tales From The Midden

    Tales From The Midden

    I’m doing The Artist’s Way all over again, straight after completing the 1st go-round. And now, just reading The Artist’s Way for Parents, I’ve had an inspiration. JK Rowling said she only got Harry Potter writ because she did no housework. One of the many reasons she has my huge respect. My inner police-people are…

  • Fingery-Pokery – The Artist’s Way

    I heard about it. I saw it in a friend’s vast personal library. He said “Here, take it.” It sat on my shelf for a year. I started it. Wow. I’m reading / doing / taking / following The Artist’s Way. It’s a course in a book. I’m fed up of feeling my work is…