Thrasher goes straight for the throat

by Dirk Blakkirt on 3.01.11

Even after a successful national tour of his play Burnt Conor McKee is a busy man. The 2009-10 writer on attachment for Belfast based theatre group Tinderbox is currently working with veteran director Wylie Longmore on the blackly comic Thrasher to premier in Manchester next year.

Irish World caught up with Conor to discuss his influences, achievements and aspirations. It’s refreshing encountering such frank honesty in a playwright were you’d often find pretension and didacticism.

When not writing and touring the 33 year old Irishman described by JE McGrath (artistic director of the Welsh National Theatre) as “relentlessly hardworking …. with an eye for the underbelly of a character,” is a freelance script reporter and teaches new writing.

What are you working on now?

My next play, Thrasher, is set for production at the Royal Exchange Studio, Manchester in Autumn/ Winter 2011. A lot of the writing for Thrasher was done before I started Burnt. I’m really looking forward to finishing it off and seeing it produced. Wyllie Longmore, (Director of Burnt) will be directing. We’ve developed our partnership over the years; it’s great to be working with him again.

Thrasher is a fast-paced multi-plot drama, set over one night in Manchester’s urban sprawl. 6 people are pushed to breaking point as events spiral beyond control.

Burnt dealt with the slow, inescapable build-up of tension between characters, Thrasher goes straight for the throat.

Burnt featured live music by classical performer Michael Cretu, how was it working with him?

Burnt has a lot of subtext; Michael’s performance on tour gave the audience a direct connection with the action onstage. We inspired each other during the creative process; there was definite collaboration between Michael, Wyllie and me.
Michael read the script and saw the play before working on the score, when I heard his early musical sketches they helped with the final scenes.
What are you hoping to achieve artistically with Thrasher?

I hope to build on the Burnt’s success, develop myself as a writer and producer and take my creative partnership with Wyllie forward.

Thrasher presents different challenges to Burnt.
Burnt was cloistered and claustrophobic with pressure pressing in on the characters. Thrasher takes these tensions and stretches them out over a brooding city. There’s a taut, muscular quality to the action.

Thrasher is faster. It demands a more complex design element. The style of the dialogue needs to be different. The storylines have to fit together differently.

How was it working as writer on attachment for Tinderbox in Belfast?
 
The year was great, I had one on one mentoring from Hanna Slattne (Dramaturg) who helped me work on Burnt and looked at developing another piece they might be interested in.

I had meetings with Mick Duke (Artistic Director) and Hanna about my progress; they were always on hand to advise me on [everything] – from doing script reports for other theatres, to running a writers’ group to producing my work and the creative element of writing a play.

One of [my] key experiences was when asked to write two short plays for a [local] educational project. I’d never written to a brief before [and my rebellious spirit] found it difficult to cope with mentally.

Mick took a lot of time with me over this; [he] showed me how to re-interpret a brief and turn it around until it became something fun to work with. From then on the experience was enjoyable and I can deal with working to a brief in future.

What are your aspirations for 2011?

Writing a new play, producing a tour of Thrasher and touching base with [Tinderbox] in March, I’d like to do something with them in the future. I edited some video trailers for Burnt, so I’m hoping to do more of that in the new year [as] a hobby [rather] than [as] my main creative focus.

Who are your main influences?

Mum and Dad made up my bedtime stories themselves, so, they must take some responsibility for my writing! The playwrights I first fell for were people like Beckett, Pinter and Mamet, but you get older, your tastes broaden and develop. I take a lot of influence from what goes on around me, from world events to things on a smaller, personal scale.

How do you find the position of the Irish in Manchester?

Manchester is a great magnet for people from all over the world and the result is a really exciting culture and strong community. There’re lots of Irish people involved in the arts and we keep an eye out for each other.

If you weren’t a playwright what would you be doing?

I’ve been writing for a while now and can’t imagine myself not being involved in the creative world. I do some production and marketing for my own shows, so I’d probably do more of that sort of thing.

Conor can be reached on conor@conormckee.com His web site is www.conormckee.com

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