EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Assessment

What can you tell us about Assessment?

Assessment began in an afternoon with the Traverse 50 new writers group in 2013 thinking about the "demographic time-bomb", the inexorable rise in the number of older people relative to the slower rise in the number of people joining the workforce. Right now, for every person of pensionable age, there are 3.2 working people. By 2040, it will be 2.7. That's taking into account the changes to the retirement age already announced. (These are Office of National Statistics figures). Do, as they say, the math. Something has to give.

Inspired by the example of Jonathan Swift's notorious 1729 essay "A Modest Proposal", I started trying to think the unthinkable. Once you make the first step, you simply follow the idea to its logical conclusion. There's nothing fancy about its form. In fact, apart from being set in a very near future which looks very like now, it's wildly unfashionable. It has a linear narrative, a plot, it's naturalistic, it mostly takes place in one room. Those who have read it have described it as macabre, alarming, frightening or depressing. No-one has said it is implausible.

Is it difficult to keep the show up to date in this political climate?

It is extraordinary, though coincidental, how it has shot back to the top of the political agenda just as its production approaches, 4 years after it was first conceived. Nick Timothy, Theresa May's former chief of staff and principal author of the disastrous Conservative manifesto, wrote a piece in the Spectator magazine (June 16) entitled "What Went Wrong" in which he said:

"The biggest complaint was about our social care proposals. You can criticise the policy but we need to be honest with ourselves..... Somehow, we have reached a point where older people with assets expect younger, poorer people to pay for their care. With Britain's demographics, that is not sustainable."

So you can't get much more up to date than that. I have been watching external events carefully because I don't want the play to lose credibilty by being superseded. But at the same time I don't want to add in contemporary references just to prove I have been reading the papers. All that is necessary is to make sure audiences don't get distracted by something incongruous. I am going to do a line-by-line review, in conjunction with our director Alice Langley, now that the election is over, to see if we need any significant amendments but I am expecting any resulting changes to be quite subtle.

How has starting out as a critic influenced your writing?

I have enjoyed what has been effectively a 30 year master-class in theatre making, by great artists from all over the world (being close to the Edinburgh festival has been a massive help), ancient and modern, in the widest possible range of forms, from the Mahabharata to Black Watch, and from the lush theatricality of the Glasgow Citizens at the zenith of Philip Prowse's heyday to the grittiest of 7:84 agitprop in neglected village halls. It has been an immense privilege. I have loved them all and, as in any course of study, probably learnt as much from the bad shows as the good ones. If I had to identify one take-away from all that, it would be pragmatism. What works? What do I need to deliver my story, my characters, the experience I want the audience to have? That applies to everything from the dialogue to the décor.

Tell us a little about the cast.

We have been fortunate to be able to attract a fantastic cast. I knew most of them from my critic's seat in the stalls. In fact I was on the panel which gave Stephen Clyde, our lead, the award for Best Actor in the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland for his Bottom in a Bard in the Botanics production of the Dream back in 2012. He has the toughest job - ageing from his actual age (not telling!) to be a convincing 77 year old, but he is fantastically good at the physical details of challenges like that, in addition to his other skills.

Scotland is blessed with brilliant female actors of a certain age - we could have cast the two female roles several times over. But Selina Boyack was the gold medallist at RSAMD (as it then was - now the RCS) and Karen Bartke was the Norma Beaton fellow in BBC Radio drama last year so its not just me who thinks so. The hardest to cast was the young Indian salesman, Amrit. There just aren't that many young male BAME actors in Scotland, not least because there are not that many opportunities for young male BAME actors in Scotland; it's a vicious circle. But I am very pleased to have Taqi Nazeer on board, not least because he was involved in a very early reading of an initial sketch of the play four years ago, so he has been with the project from the very start.

Who would you recommend comes to see Assessment?

It's temptin' to say anyone who is planning to grow old, anyone with parents, anyone with children. Just everybody! If you're expecting a happy-go-lucky singalong comedy you may be disappointed. But if you like theatre where you are both moved by the plight of the characters and find yourself arguing about the implications of the play over a drink afterwards, this could be for you.

Timings and ticket information for Assessment can be found on the edfringe website.

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