I was interviewed by the Edinburgh Evening News for my work as a Teacher of Drama and Theatre Director. For those who missed it (it was published yesterday - Friday) then here it is…

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/features/Ten-Questions-Theatre-director-John.5179937.jp

So for the first week of my Easter Holidays I was in production for my theatre company (random ACT) latest production of ‘The Laramie Project’ which is a verbatim theatre piece based on the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998.

Matthew was murdered because he was gay and was left beaten and tied to a fence till he was found. This is a very emotional play and I am so glad we got the message across that Gay Hate actually exists. Only last year a young man in Liverpool was murdered because of his sexuality.

The play shows people true emotions in a a small community about difference. As an openly gay man I have faced homophobia when I lived in Dumfries and Galloway and it was during my time there that I came across this play and realised how relevant it was to 21st centuary Scotland.

One Email we received said

‘Thanks to you and all the cast for such a great evening tonight. Fantastic - powerful - moving. I was close to tears so many times, but Lisa’s singing of Amazing Grace was what pushed me over the edge. The performance has given me pause for thought on all kinds of things, from hate crimes to the death penalty, from the power of religion for good to the power of religion for bad, from forgiveness to retribution - and back.Brilliant stuff. Thank you.’

There is currently the ‘Some People are Gay, get over it’ campaign but I actually strongly believe that we need to address homophobia on a much bigger scale in schools. I was also proud to see many of my students along to support the play (and also something a bit different from your musical, or period drama).

If you came, thank you for supporting us. The work I do at random ACT has a huge effect on the work I do in the classroom too. It was very rewarding to both the cast and crew to see the audience leave the theatre visually upset and moved by the story and the production.