Chris Savery is a playwright from Plymouth, who came into our lecture on November 7th to talk to us about his plays, his life and the large sum of money given to him by Marjon. Meeting him was very interesting as he talked in-depth about his life and the many jobs he has had over the years. Speaking to someone with experience in the industry is always important because they can give you some tips and allow you to take a glimpse at what the industry actually can be like. Chris has had many jobs over time, from working in Plymouth Dockyard, to setting up his own company, ‘Set up my own company www.playsonthenet.com as an online database for unpublished playwrights. Developed the site into an e-commerce venture and became one of the first companies to secure a license to sell titles from the archives of BBC Audio books.'(Savery, 2020)

Speaking with Chris about completing a masters in Creative Writing in his later life really inspired me and reminded me that it really doesn’t matter how old you are, you are never too old to follow your dreams and desires and make them become a reality. I asked him a few questions after the lecture about doing the Masters and he really encouraged me to look into any MA. degrees that I might be interested in because it would be worth all the hard work.

We read through his recent play, Bartholomew’s Strip, and he seemed over the moon that he was finally able to hear these characters come to life. I really enjoyed the play and I definitely felt like he managed to capture the essence of youth within the young boys in the script, primarily by their use of exceptionally accurate “lingo” (local/modern dialect).

His plays have seen New York stages and have even made their way to Paris. ‘His play about Marilyn Monroe and the English Civil War featured at the Midtown International Festival in the Big Apple and later staged in Paris.'(Cornwall, 2020) He also talked to us about receiving a large sum of money from Marjon in order to take one of his plays out to New York. Whilst he wasn’t quite sure why Marjon gave him the money, especially since they have never asked him back to talk about his experience, it definitely did make us aware that if you try hard enough, there will be a way to realise your dreams, and there may even be someone to give you a bit of funding along the way. (We can only hope!)