Date: Fri 10 Oct 2003

October 2003 saw Tyneside celebrating the life and work of acclaimed north east dramatist Tom Hadaway, who is 80 this year. Whitley Bay writer Valerie Laws speaks to Literature North East about her new play, Hadaway: The Making of a Writer, the only play specially commissioned for the festival.

LNE: In his introduction to The Long Line, Peter Mortimer claimed that, 'like most NE writers, [Hadaway's] birthplace has worked against him, if universal acclaim is the yardstick'. Do you think that's true and is that why we need a festival celebrating Hadaway's work?

VL: Yes, I do think it's true, although I'd love to say it isn't. At the height of his fame, Tom would probably have been more famous is he'd moved south - particularly for working in television. It was never an option though. He's very rooted here.

On the other hand, a lot of writers have moved to the north east from elsewhere - lots of 'northern' writers aren't from here, so perhaps it's not so relevant these days.

Did you find it a daunting prospect to write a play about such a respected playwright?

Very much so. Particularly since he lives just down the road from me! But it was important that the play was written. I know Tom and knew he had led an interesting life. It was daunting, but I had to make a conscious decision to write without constantly thinking, 'Will Tom like this?', otherwise it would never have worked.

I spent a lot of time interviewing him and transcribing the interviews, so the play is really based on his memoirs, although fictionalised to some extent. It had to be for the purposes of the play, but I've tried to stay true to the things he told me. It was very important to me to capture the voices of the people - Tom's voice, and the voice of people in the twenties, thirtiess and forties. I used memories of my grandmother's speech, whose father was a shipbuilder in Byker, and of my own father who is from the fishing community in Cullercoats. I realised that the local speech of that time has largely gone - our children probably wouldn't understand some of the words used, as their language has been ironed out and Americanised.

Has Tom Hadaway influenced your own writing?

I used to see his plays long ago as a child, before I knew who he was. I think my writing has certain themes in common with Tom. His writing gives a voice to people who don't have one and that's always been important to me. My previous play, Collingwood, which was performed last year at the Tynemouth Pageant, was about a local hero who has been overshadowed by Nelson, but I put in quite a lot about ordinary people affected by the press gangs, who wouldn't necessarily be seen as heroic in the grand sense that Collingwood or Nelson are.

I also greatly admire Tom's use of language. I remember going to see The Pigeon Man with Tim Healy and the portrayal of the characters was astonishing. Tom is able to say so much using simple language.

80 years is a long time to condense into a stage play - how did you decide what to include and what to discard?

I decided early on to concentrate on what made him become a writer - interestingly, Tom didn't start writing until he was in his forties. I didn't want to write about his writing, which speaks for itself, so the play only goes up to the time he began to write. The play starts before he was born, with the meeting of his parents and goes right through his childhood into his twenties, and selected important incidents that relate to his writing. I was very interested in exploring his motivations, what spurred him on. He started out from a poor, disadvantaged background but became both a successful writer and a successful businessman. In fact, he is still very highly regarded on Fish Quay as a 'fish' person - he had a fish shop and a scampi business down there and was a part-owner of three trawlers.

Has Tom Hadaway seen the script or been to any of the rehearsals?

No, not at all. The decision was made early on not to involve him in the writing of the play. As I've said, it would have been impossible to do if I'd had to keep asking myself, 'What will Tom think of this?' He is coming to the first night though - I just hope he'll still be speaking to me afterwards!

North Shields forms the backdrop to much of Tom Hadaway's work. You're from nearby Whitley Bay - does a sense of place exert any influence over your own writing?

Well, both my commissioned plays are connected to the area and a lot of my poetry is also about the area, but I wouldn't say that it is the only influence. A lot of my work is about other things, other places. A sense of being rooted here is important to me, but it's not the only thing that inspires me to write.

Hadaway: The Making of a Writer
By Valerie Laws, Director Anne Orwin
Monday 27 October-Thursday 30 October, 7.30pm
Thursday 30 October, 2.30 pm
The Saville Exchange, Howard Street, North Shields
Tickets £7.00/£7.50
Tel: 0191 252 3505
Early booking recommended

Valerie Laws lives in Whitley Bay. Her first play was for the 2002 Tynemouth Pageant - Collingwood and the Tars of the Tyne. Her first full-length poetry collection, Moonbathing, was published this year by Peterloo Poets. Her recent project Quantum Sheep, funded by the Arts Council, involved writing poems on live sheep and hit the headlines worldwide. To learn more about Valerie, see her entry in the A-Z of North East Writers.

The book of Hadaway: The Making of a Writer will be available during the production at The Saville Exchange. The Long Line: Three Plays by Tom Hadaway is available from Iron Press at www.northernpublishers.co.uk.