ABSTRACT
Tom Wright is a London-based playwright, theatre director, and producer, who originates from the Midlands, UK. In 2019, his plays My Dad’s Gap Year and Undetectable premiered in back-to-back, sold-out runs at the Park Theatre and at King’s Head Theatre respectively; and they have been published by Methuen Drama. The productions earned, collectively, seven Off West End Theatre Award Nominations, including Best New Play and Most Promising Playwright. In what follows, Wright and I discuss the inspiration behind My Dad’s Gap Year and Undetectable, the first two parts of an intended trilogy of coming-of-age plays (This conversation took place via email with final comments provided by Wright on 12 May 2019). We attend to the social and literary context in which the plays emerged, how they evolved, and their individual thematic interests. This interview contributes to scholarship by advancing our understanding of contemporary gay theatre and by analyzing Wright’s exploration of a wide range of themes including internal homophobia, the perception of transgender peoples, and mixed-race relationships.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Pre-exposure prophylaxis medications.
2. Aware of discrimination on the grounds of race (colloquial).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Tom Ue
Tom Ue is Assistant Professor of English at Dalhousie University and an Honorary Research Associate at University College London. He is the author of Gissing, Shakespeare, and the Life of Writing (Edinburgh University Press) and George Gissing (Northcote House Publishers/British Council) and the editor of George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (Edinburgh University Press). Ue has held a Frederick Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto Scarborough.