Nick Leather won a Pearson Playwright Bursary to the Royal Exchange in 2004. During his time as writer-in-residence, he wrote ALL THE ORDINARY ANGELS, which won him Pearson Play of the Year. ALL THE ORDINARY ANGELS will be produced in the Royal Exchange Mainhouse in November 2005. It was Nick’s first produced play. He writes below about the dream of having a play on at the Royal Exchange…

WRITE THE DREAM

Y’know in your dreams, the way things aren’t quite as they are? Like you might dream of the school you once went to, or the place you work at, and you know it is where it is – but it doesn’t actually look like it does, coz the places we dream of are BIGGER and BOLDER and much more MAGICAL? The Royal Exchange Theatre – Manchester ’s real THEATRE OF DREAMS – defies all this. It’s the one place I dream of that always is how it is, and looks how it looks – and I guess that’s coz things don’t come any bigger or bolder or much more magical than this.

Walking into the building is like WALKING INTO YOUR DREAMS: the module hanging in the centre of the hall, like a thought in a head. The first time I walked in I saw a poster up for their playwriting competition. And even though I’d never thought of writing a stageplay before, that poster was like a comic strip thought-cloud dot-dotting above me. Four years, three readings, an attachment and a residency later, anyone could read my mind coz the thought-cloud had the name of my play on it. And when I woke up the morning after the first night of my first production, I would’ve believed that the whole thing had been a dream – if it wasn’t for the ticket in my pocket with my name on it.

It scares me to think what would have happened if I hadn’t seen that poster – but you needn’t worry, coz this piece of paper is the poster. This pack should be the thought-cloud dot-dotting above your head. And that simple thought is this: WRITE A PLAY. And don’t just write it, dream it. Don’t send in one that you’ve had dog-eared in a drawer for years – write a new one. And make this play bigger and bolder and much more magical than ever before.

The Royal Exchange wasn’t just a theatre built, but A THEATRE DREAMT. In an article written many years before the old Cotton Exchange building in Manchester had been identified as the head to think the thought, founding Artistic Director Casper Wrede wrote:

“We need a new stage on which to WAKE OUR DREAMS and awake ourselves within the dream. But if we want that stage we’ll have to build it ourselves”.

Over the next few years, as so many people devoted so much time and effort to this cause, I always think of the film ‘Field of Dreams’, and imagine those who dared to dream hearing ‘IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME’ whispering and whispering away in the background. Well they did build it – and for almost thirty years, they have come. The Royal Exchange has been built, rebuilt, dreamt, and now redreamt. And it’s time for you to come; it’s time for you to WRITE THE DREAM. But this will be a dream with a difference – coz when you wake up there’ll be a ticket in your pocket. And it’ll have your name on it.

Nick Leather