"How do I write for a local audience while telling my own story?"

When I was asked to write a play to launch A Play, A Pie & A Pint at Macrobert Arts Centre, my first question was: how do I write for a local audience while telling my own story? There were things I was burning to write about – cultures of misogyny and public shaming - and I wanted to get to grips with those difficult subjects in a topical and entertaining way that also paid tribute somehow to the area.

I began researching the area, visiting, and asking local people about what characterises this part of central Scotland for them. Of all the wonderful and varied responses I received, the most common was: the history, and specifically, the Scottish Wars of Independence. It was in the Scots victory at the Battle of Bannockburn and Robert the Bruce’s subsequent bargain to release his wife, sister, and daughter that I found the inspiration for my play, and which allowed me to wrestle with its themes in a way that felt personal to me, local to the area, topical for Scotland right now, and – hopefully – universal. 

Lesley Hart, Writer
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