When Chloe Moss was
commissioned by Clean Break theatre company to spend twelve weeks
developing a play from working with inmates in a women's prison, she
was initially daunted by the terms laid down for her by the company
set up in 1979 by two female prisoners to explore the hidden stories
of women prisoners through drama. By the end of the process, things
had changed somewhat for the Liverpool-born writer.
The change was more
than evident in the play that was born from Moss' experience with
Clean Break, This Wide Night, which played at Soho Theatre in 2008
prior to a tour of prisons where some of the women Moss worked with
were still housed. With a major new production directed by playwright
David Greig about to open at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow and
featuring Jayd Johnson and Elaine C. Smith in the cast, Moss reflects
on the play's origins.
“At first it seemed
slightly restrictive.” Moss explains, “Clean Break do one
commission a year, and you write something that's for a small, women
only cast, and obviously you write something that's based around
women who are in the criminal justice system. Once you're involved in
it, all of that is actually quite liberating, and by the end of the
twelve weeks I could've written fifty or a hundred plays about the
experiences of these women.”
Rather than focus on
the women's life behind bars, in the play Moss looks at what happens
when the women are released. This is done through two women, Marie
and Lorraine, who had struck up a friendship while incarcerated.
When Marie is released, that appears to be that. Only when Lorraine
knocks at Marie's bedsit door are the pair forced to reassess their
relationship on the outside world.
“The characters are
really an amalgam of all the women I met,” Moss says. “Even
before we started, I was really interested in what happened when
these women came out of the criminal justice system, and what
happened to them. Bonds form between women in prison, but it's hard
for them to trust people, so there's a fragility to those bonds,
especially when the women get out. Many women lose ties with their
children and with their families, and if you're a certain age, it's
going to be more difficult to get work when you get out. That's a
massive part of your life. I mean, what if you're seventy when you
come out, and you've lost all those connections in life that you had?
What do you do?”
Women's prison drama
has proved an alluring draw over the years, both on stage and on
television. Both Within These Walls in the 1970s Prisoner: Cell Block
H la few years later, and the more recent Bad Girls captivated huge
audiences. If the latter two camped things up somewhat, such an
approach was offset by the likes of Rona Munro's stage play, Iron,
and the ongoing work done by Clean Break.
While This Wide Night
has moved out of the prison walls, Moss' experience of her twelve
weeks working with women has made her recognise the importance of
dramatising experiences which most people aren't aware of.
“I can only speak
from my personal experience,” she says, “but when you scratch the
surface, you realise how many women are in prison, and how many of
them are in for non-violent crime. The reasons a lot of women are in
prison are to do with poverty, drugs or mental health issues. Where
these women should be getting health and support, they get locked up
instead.. So if you scratch that surface, it feels very Dickensian,
and the strength that these women have when they come out and have to
try and rebuild their lives is remarkable.”
While Moss stresses
that This Wide Night is not a journalistic piece of work, the play's
sustaining power has proved something of a benchmark for the writer,
whose career began after she was picked up by the Royal Court Young
Writer's Group, where she wrote her first professionally produced
play, A Day in Dull Armour, in 2002. Commissions for the Royal Court,
Manchester's Royal Exchange and Liverpool Everyman followed.
“I'd always wanted to
write,” Moss says, “bit I didn't think it was possible to earn a
living doing it. My brother's an actor, and he was a big inspiration,
really. I went along to the Everyman Youth Theatre a few times, and
that made me realise I didn't want to be an actor, and that writing
could be another way of telling stories. Then I started going to the
theatre more when I did my degree in Manchester, and things took off
from there.”
Moss also has extensive
TV credits under her belt, with stints on the likes of Hollyoaks,
Secret Diary of A Call Girl and more recently on Switch, a
fantasy-based comedy drama about four young witches living in
contemporary Camden. With further commissions for the Royal Exchange
and the Everyman pending, Moss may have moved on as a writer, but
it's clear that This Wide Night remains an important piece of work
for her.
“I feel incredibly
proud of it,” Moss reflects. “It's an emotional thing for me. I
have a real affection for it, and it's very close to my heart.
Sometimes you look back at some plays and think ' would change that
now'. I'm not saying this play is perfect, but it means a lot to me.
When we took it round prisons, that was the most important audience
for me. Some of the women I'd worked with had been released, but it
was obviously still personal to them, and if I hadn't nailed the
truth of things, they'd know in ten seconds. You just want to feel
that you're respecting them. The most important thing is being
truthful. Even though there's a lot of bleakness in the play, I think
there's also a lot of hope.”
This Wide Night, Tron
Theatre, Glasgow, February 20-March 15.
Chloe Moss – A
writer's life
Chloe Moss was born in
Liverpool, and studied film at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Moss joined the Royal
Court Young Writers Group, where she wrote her first professionally
performed play, A Day in Dull Armour, in 2002.
Moss became writer in
residence at the Bush theatre, where she wrote How Love Is Spelt in
2004. The following year the play was produced off-Broadway.
For the Royal Exchange
Manchester, Moss wrote Christmas Is Miles Away in 2005, and The Way
Home for Liverpool Everyman in 2006.
Also in 2006, Moss
co-wrote Catch, a collaboration at the Royal Court with four other
playwrights; April De Angelis, Laura Wade, Stella Feehily and Tanika
Gupta.
This Wide Night was
commissioned by Clean Break theatre company, and opened at Soho
Theatre in 2008 before touring women's prisons.
In 2012, The Gatekeeper
opened at the Royal Exchange Manchester.
For television, Moss
has written for Hollyoaks, Secret Diary of A Call Girl, Lip Service
and Switch. Moss also wrote the TV film, Frankenstein's
Wedding...Live In Leeds, and an episode of Prisoners Wives.
Moss is currently under
commission for the Royal Exchange Manchester and Liverpool Everyman.
The Herald, February 18th 2014
ends
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