Ed Edwards, playwright and Mark Thomas, actor, give some observations surrounding their new play, England & Son at this year's Edinburgh Fringe
I’ve been trying to recruit a team of assassins to take down Michael Gove
Ed, what’s the attraction of England & Son and working with Mark?
He is one of the kindest and one of the most honest men I’ve ever met. He listens and is obsessed with getting the truth out of things. He's playful and joyous and he's always encouraging, even when he thinks your wrong.
This is your first time back to the Fringe since 2018 - where have you been?
I am the stepfather of two teenage boys who love violence, so I’ve been in a lot of pain. Plus I’ve been trying to recruit a team of assassins to take down Michael Gove, but unfortunately no luck yet. If any of your readers want to get in touch that would be great. As a Marxist, I do understand that you have to destroy the entire system, but with Gove I think you can make an exception.
Can you tell us something of your background and how you became a playwright?
I accidentally saw a play when I was stoned in my early 20s and thought, ‘I could do that!’
Mark, let's try you, Can you tell us something of your background, which forms part of this play and how you became involved in England & Son?
There are bits in the play which are true to my life and bits that are true to Ed’s life. I did actually used to burn the lead off brass fittings with a blowtorch, collecting the rotten lead in a ladle and separating the brass ready for the scrapyard when I was 8.
Ed, What are you looking forward to this year?
The assassination of Michael Gove. Plus my partner is very ill with long Covid – which is a very serious condition for a lot of people and she’s had it for three years. So I’m also hoping for some sort of miracle cure. Nobody seems to realise how serious the condition is – and in fact they’ve just got rid of the only consultant in Manchester who knew anything about it. All part of the assassination of the NHS.
This has been quite a creative writing process - can you expand on how England & Son came about?
I met Mark Thomas after my play, The Political History of Smack And Crack, and then we were both working at Live Newcastle when we decided to do something. We were talking about how the British government had urged the Italian government to stop the rescue missions for people crossing the Mediterranean – when 10,000 people had drowned - and it's probably doubled by now. The British government’s position at the time - openly stated - was: ‘Let people drown, because then others won’t come’.
The original idea for this play was for it to be a ghost story when the sea decided to come back to haunt the town of Dover. But anyone who sees the play will see that it has moved on from there. I like to not know where plays are going when I start, because I’m not cleverer than my audience, so if I know where it’s going then the audience will know where it’s going. I have to be open to surprises, otherwise there won’t be any surprises. The hard work comes when you’re trying to make sense of it all later - in other words the curse of re-writing!
Who have been your own influences in the world of playwriting?
I love Kieran Hurley’s work but my biggest influence - especially for this one - is Eve Steele whose play Life By The Throat I directed for Edinburgh 2016. This was a one-woman show that made me reaise what can be done on stage for one person. She has a play, Work it Out, on the main stage at HOME MCR in spring 2024.
Where would be your 'Yes! I've made it' venue to see your plays performed?
CBGBs in 1980s New York, where Talking Heads and the Dead Kenedies started out. But you’d have to go back in time and as far as I know they didn’t do Theatre!
Finally, if there is one thing you could do this Fringe that you've never done before, what would it be?
Camping. Which I’m doing!! Fingers crossed for nice weather.
