Brian Coyle - Playwright & Scriptwriter
OFFSHORE
A troubled young man standing on a cold deserted beach stares out at the uninviting sea and spots something magical out there. What is it he sees?
In this play three lost souls meet on the same beach every day. They each have their own issues and they each can't seem to move forward with their lives. Can they help each other to find their way?
OFFSHORE is about loss, longing, mental health and about the mystery of our natural world. It's a story of three ordinary people and their connection to each other and to the infinite.
MADE IN ENGLAND
What does it mean to be white, poor and English these days? MADE IN ENGLAND is set in a small left-behind rural town and looks at many of the issues and themes raised by the drift of ordinary people to the right: nationalism, right-wing conspiracy theories, the effects of crushing inequality.
Within the context of a town (and country) that seems to be losing its way, its three characters grapple with personal tragedy, social isolation and an uncontrollable rage towards a "rigged system".
MADE IN ENGLAND is not so much a state-of-the-nation play, as a nation-in-a-state play.
LIFEFORCE
Alex has a lot to live for: their friendship with their flat-mate Serena, their lovely mum, their passion for Bake Off, their budding stand-up career and their fledgling romance with the beautiful Barista from Pret. So why have they taken an overdose and are in hospital, with a medical team fighting for their life? Will they survive and do they even want to?
In this 50 min single-hander about grief, mental health and the meaning/point of life Alex tells us their story, as we find out how they got to this frightening point in their life.
ON BOWER HILL
Four youngsters spend much of their free time drinking cider on Bower Hill. One of them has recently joined the army to move on from his chaotic teenage years and help set him and his girlfriend up with a new life. The army has made him grow up fast, but having escaped one chaotic life he now finds himself in another – an active war-zone thousands of miles away.
The play is about four teenagers on the cusp of adulthood; it's about surviving in a small left-behind town; and it’s about masculinity – especially its destructive aspects – and how it affects the men who have to live up to it and the women who have to live with it.
A 30min extract was performed at the Theatre Royal Bath (egg Theatre) in 2018 (dir: Stephanie Kempson).
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THIS COLD NIGHT
Henry is old and he knows it, he feels every single year of it. And if that’s not enough, he’s estranged from his daughter Penny and only seems to find solace in his friendship with his carer Jake. He has lost his daughter, he has lost his health, he has lost his once lofty status, and now he seems to be losing his mind. Could a visitor Paul be his saviour, or is Paul the last person he should trust.
THIS COLD NIGHT is about a cantankerous and unreconstructed old man nearing the end of his life and seemingly losing everything, but has he? It's also a play about care: loving care; a duty of care; professional care, and when you're past caring; and it’s a play about how it’s never too late for reconciliation, if you are prepared to embrace it.
The play had a rehearsed reading at The Hope Theatre, London (Dir by Dave Spencer).
THIS LOCKDOWN MONOLOGUES
On Monday 23rd of March 2020, as the spread of Covid became increasingly deadly and the strain on the NHS unsustainable, the country entered Lockdown.
In a reaction to those first fearful weeks I wrote twelve short monologues about how it felt to be in the middle of that extraordinary time. Twelve actors recorded them on their phones and they were released online.
Five years later I'm wondering whether it might be time to revisit how we felt during those times. I've spliced together the twelve monologies into a sixty-minute single piece of drama for four actors. I think it captures the raw emotions we were all feeling then and how in times of mortal danger what is important in life becomes crystal clear.
You can see the original videos here: We Will Not Be Silenced.