THE STORY
Tributes are usually given by family members so my starting point was, “What if there isn’t any surviving family? Why might that be?” This led me to the idea of a character who had murdered his family, then died in prison. He may not have had many friends outside and, even if he did, they would have drifted away after so many years inside. He really was alone in the world.
So who was going to give the tribute? The person who had spent most time with him lately: Allan, one of his prison officers. Allan understood Rex in some ways, and knew him on a professional basis. He didn’t like him much, for obvious reasons.
Allan needs to look professional and disinterested. A prisoner has died in unexplained circumstances and someone has to say something. He is on duty. Like a family member giving a tribute, he glosses over some of the past. He can’t be as honest as he’d like to be. Maybe he needs to hide some things too.
THE WRITER – LOUISE VALE
Louise’s work includes screenwriting, poetry and literary translation from French to English.
Louise has a Diploma in Media Practice (screenwriting and journalism) from Birkbeck College. Selected for the Talent Campus at the London Screenwriters’ Festival 2015, she successfully pitched an idea for an adapted screenplay based on a contemporary French novel. After optioning film rights and translating the novel, she has completed the screenplay and is now developing new ideas for film and TV drama.
Louise’s poems have been published in magazines and anthologies and on-line, and broadcast on US Public Radio. She has been selcted for the Verve Poetry Festival 2017 and was shortlisted for the Magma Poetry Editors’ Prize in 2015 and 2016. Some of her poems are monologues, dialogues or mini-dramas. A member of London group The King’s Poets since 2002, she has given readings at The Poetry Society, RADA and Waterstone’s. She is now working towards a first collection of poetry.
THE ACTOR – PATRICK BRENNAN
Most recently Patrick toured the UK with “Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage” for National Theatre of Wales and Out Of Joint theatre companies directed by the legendary Max Stafford Clark and was in “The Duchess Of Malfi” for Nottingham Playhouse, playing the Cardinal.
Patrick was in the 6th series of Downton Abbey playing Mr Dawes the village school headmaster. Other recent TV credits include The White Queen and Father Brown, Holby City (BBC) and Doctors (BBC).
Patrick is a regular broadcaster with BBC Radio Drama and has been a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company. He is currently a member of the new repertory company at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre.
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects.