Fraser Grace
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Brief Encounter with Fraser Grace

What made you choose this subject for the play?
It's a great story! I've known and been fascinated by the story of King David, Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, all my life – even as a child I could smell intrigue and skullduggery. So when it occurred to me to write a play on a classical tale (and a classical scale), it was an obvious contender. I went back to the Bible and found quite a different David – not the shepherd-turned-giant-slayer I remembered, but a ruthless killer. That was a surprise, and it got me hooked.

Other than the biblical story, what research (if any) did you do?
Most of my other plays have involved masses of research – which is fine by me. One of the perks of being a playwright is that you get to explore worlds you know nothing about. But the process for this play has been very different. I did look at George Peele's play of 1587 The Love of King David and the Fair Bethsebe – it's one of the few theatrical treatments of the story. But mostly, it's been reading the Old Testament, and soul searching (aka staring out of the window, thinking), then making dinner (more thinking) and so on, until thinking spills into writing (and more thinking) and a lot of sleepless nights.

Does the story of David have contemporary relevance and if so, what?
This play has no relevance whatsoever to today's world – unless you've noticed that our world is full of people who believe God is on their side – and that their (our) killing is therefore not only justified, but heroic, glorious, divine. The play even asks whether we would be better off with no god at all – a proposition many people find attractive, myself included at times – until we read about Stalin, Pol Pot, and so on. These were leaders who rejected the idea of there being any higher power than themselves. The results weren't pretty. So, the play sits squirming in the lap of one of the biggest issues we, our children and our children's children – should there be a world left for them – will face: is it better to have a god whose judgments we can follow, or to trust in human justice and mercy alone? The jury, as they say, is out.

How did you come to be a playwright?
Writer – student – actor – performance poet – playwright.

What other plays have you written and for which theatres?
Lots, but here's three: Perpetua for the Birmingham Rep and the Soho Theatre. It was joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award and this was the play that got me going, professionally. Breakfast with Mugabe for the RSC, which won the John Whiting Award and later transferred to the Soho Theatre and the Duchess Theatre in the West End – probably the play that has been my most successful with two subsequent productions here and in the US, where there will be a new production in autumn 2010. The Lifesavers for Theatre 503 and the Colchester Mercury Theatre. That was the play which introduced me to Dee Evans and this fantastic Mercury ensemble.

What's next in your pipeline?
I'm currently working with the composer Andrew Lovett on an opera. It's called Don't Breathe A Word and is very scandalous. It's under development with the Royal Opera House at the moment; we're hoping it will surface sometime in 2011.

- by Anne Morley-Priestman

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