Play Talk: Gary Owen on how his plays come from picking at mental scabs

Gary Owen's Iphigenia in Splott received rave reviews when it opened at the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff two years ago. It repeated that success in Edinburgh and then London, and its star Sophie Melville was nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for best actress. His play Violence and Son, about a nerdy Doctor Who fan with a bruiser for a dad, tied its Royal Court audience up in moral knots, and his latest, Killology opened at the Sherman to five-star reviews. This week, the latter sees him return to the Royal Court, as the play begins a run in London.

What was the first play to make you want to write plays?

None. The awful truth is I wrote a play and got it produced before contemporary theatre ever intruded on my life. And you can tell.

What was your background to becoming a playwright?

Failed academic, failed film writer, failed TV writer, failed musician, failed novelist, failed dry stone waller.

What’s the hardest play you’ve ever written?

One I've been writing since 2013 called Hannah. I can't get it right and I can't let it go.

Which brought you the most joy?

I don't understand the question.

Which playwrights have influenced you the most?

The playwrights I love most are Caryl Churchill and Martin Crimp but I can't detect any influence. There's nothing I'm less interested in as a writer than formal experimentation. Actually: David Eldridge. He was my mentor at the National Theatre Studio in 2002 and took me for pints and with the beautiful Under the Blue Sky taught me that ordinary people could write plays about ordinary people and get them on at the Royal Court. Eventually.

What is your favourite line or scene from any play?

Look I like the theatre, but I'm not obsessed with it.

What’s been the biggest surprise to you since you’ve had your writing performed by actors?

How very simple the principles of drama are; so very simple they slip through my fingers on every new piece.

What’s been your biggest setback as a writer?

My partner and I co-wrote a TV series called Baker Boys for BBC Wales. It was the only thing the BBC have produced about the effects of austerity on the lives of ordinary people. It went into production 10 days after the birth of our first son. It was a huge hit in Wales, but got cancelled after two series because of budget cuts. We were very proud of the show, but we had placed ourselves under ridiculous pressure when we should have been learning to be parents. I'm not sure we were right to do so.

And the hardest lesson you’ve had to learn?

That not knowing the first thing about theatre is, actually, a weakness.

What do you think is the best thing about theatre? And the worst?

The best things are its cheapness, its speed, its specificity, its cheek, its immediacy. The worst thing; it is irrelevant to most people, and doesn't really mind that it is.

What’s your best piece of advice for writers who are starting out?

Being a playwright is not a living. It really is not. There are more people earning a living as professional footballers than there are as playwrights. Anyone who tells you that you can earn a living as a playwright is probably about to ask you for several thousand pounds in tuition fees.

Are there any themes and stories you find yourself re-visiting with your plays?

These days it's endless angst about not being a good enough dad.

Are you on Twitter? Do you find it a help or a hindrance as a writer?

Twitter's great for people who have hours of free time every day they can't fill with watching tv, reading books, social interaction, voluntary work, exercise, sleep or masturbation. But it's not for me.

Why did you write Killology?

Most plays come from a mental scab I can't stop picking at. I read a book called On Killing which presented some arguments that fictional representations of violence might be damaging, and I couldn't shake them off. Also I was angsting about not being a good enough dad.

How do you spend opening night?

The last one I spent the first half bathing my two boys and then taxied over to the Sherman to catch the second act of the play. That was the best one yet.

What’s the best play you’ve seen this year?

I've just read The Ferryman and even reading that was better than anything I've seen.

What’s your favourite place to watch theatre in London?

London is largely unexplored territory for me, but I love the Royal Court. And know where it is.

What other art forms do you love when you’re not in a theatre?

Music. Cotton Wolf's new album "Life In Analogue" has been on constant repeat play in my house for the last month.

If the Prime Minister said they were abolishing the theatre tomorrow, what would you do?

The arts, like health and education, are devolved to the Welsh government. The Prime Minister's words are just noise here.

Killology is at the Royal Court until June 24; royalcourttheatre.com