The history of The Play That Killed Me
By Justin MacGregor
My parents, Barry and Iris, met at the Royal Shakespeare Company during Much Ado About Nothing, proving that, for me at least, the play was indeed about something. Before them, my grandfather Hector was also an actor, who did a lot of theatre and appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright just before he died. And before him, my great-grandmother, Helen, and great-grandfather, Frances, were also actors.
But for many years, I did not really know much more than that.
I also knew that my grandfathers served during World War II and my mother’s father Ron was shot down over Berlin near the end of the war. Hector lived through his service, but died from diseases that he caught in North Africa during the war. So I grew up without them and only later in life began to ask questions.
It was only during a conversation with my father shortly after the Millennium celebrations that I heard the story of Hector’s service in North Africa, how he put on plays for the troops in Mombasa and Nairobi, how ill he became while doing so, and how lucky he was to make it back at all.
That was when I heard the stories that would become part of The Play That Killed Me.
I did not write much about them at first. Other duties and projects emerged along the way but Hector’s story was always in the back of my mind, especially as I came to realize that my mother’s uncles, Lewis and Ken, would have seen the plays put on by Hector during the war, some twenty years before my parents met. A small world indeed. The question that always daunted me was: how to tell this story?
Finally, in late 2009, I woke up with a start and the opening of the play was clear as day. Hector would recount the story to the audience: he would be his own narrator.
Over the fall I wrote and re-wrote until it was finally done. When I finally felt it ready to be read by others, I passed on copies to actors I was eager to work with: Jane Purcell, who I had worked with before, and Scarlett Mack, who I had seen in Eight (which plays at The Lowry this July).
Both were enthusiastic and passed it on to other actors. Scarlett then suggested forwarding it to The Lowry and within two weeks, Porl Cooper had programmed us for the fall season as part of their new strand, NeverBeenSeen.
Shortly after that, the Arts Council of England awarded the play a Grant for the Arts.
Now, all that’s left is actually putting it on!