Alan Wilkins (playwright)

{{Infobox writer

| name = Alan Wilkins

| birth_date = 1969

| death_date = 7 September 2022 (aged 52)

| nationality = British

| notableworks = Carthage Must Be Destroyed

| awards = Best New Play
Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland

}}

Alan Wilkins (1969 – 7 September 2022) was a Scottish playwright.

His first professionally produced play was Ball or Scoop, which opened at the Benaki Museum in April 2004 and then toured the Highlands and islands of Scotland.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywGbBNGMopsC&pg=PT1|title=The Nest|isbn=9781854598172|accessdate=10 June 2009|last1=Wilkins|first1=Alan|year=2004|publisher=Nick Hern }} The play was set in a Highland bothy and featured five hill walkers sheltering from a storm.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/the-nest-traverse-theatre-edinburgh-561557.html|title=The Nest, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh |work=The Independent|date=29 April 2004|accessdate=10 June 2009|last=Jones|first=Sarah}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He received the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland Best New Play Award in 2008 for Carthage Must Be Destroyed, and has since had two other plays produced.

Life and career

Wilkins was born in 1969,{{cite web|url=http://ibisweb.miami.edu/search~S11?/aWilkins,+Alan,+1969-/awilkins+alan+1969/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CE/2exact&FF=awilkins+alan+1969&1%2C2%2C|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212203545/http://ibisweb.miami.edu/search~S11?/aWilkins,+Alan,+1969-/awilkins+alan+1969/-3,-1,0,E/2exact&FF=awilkins+alan+1969&1,2,|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 December 2012|title=Wilkins, Alan 1969|publisher=University of Miami Libraries|accessdate=10 June 2009}} and brought up in Edinburgh.{{cite web|url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/Wilkins-takes-the-route-from.3280607.jp|title=Wilkins takes the route from Carthage to Iraq|publisher=The Scotsman|date=27 April 2007|accessdate=10 June 2009|last=Rudden|first=Liam}} Before his professional debut as a playwright, he worked as an actor and taught English as a Foreign Language in Poland and Spain.

{{cite web|url=http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/may04-interview-alan-wilkins.htm |title=May 2004 Interview: Alan Wilkins |publisher=Highlands and Islands Arts |date=May 2004 |accessdate=10 June 2009 |last=Mathieson |first=Kenny |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615105843/http://www.hi-arts.co.uk/may04-interview-alan-wilkins.htm |archivedate=15 June 2011}}

Whilst in Spain, he wrote his first play, Childish Things. He sent it to the Traverse and it received a public reading. Encouraged, he wrote his second play, Cafeteria/Restaurant, which received a reading at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. The Traverse commissioned him to write The Nest, which became his first produced play.

At the time of his debut, Wilkins was working as a drama teacher at Inverkeithing High School, Edinburgh.{{cite web|url=http://living.scotsman.com/features/High-drama-as-Scots-writer.2520599.jp|title=High drama as Scots writer hits new peak|publisher=The Scotsman|date=16 April 2004|accessdate=10 June 2009|last=Fettes|first=Miranda}} His next play Carthage Must Be Destroyed, set in a 2nd-century Roman bathhouse,{{cite web|url=http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresartsreview/display.var.1365758.0.0.php|title=Features: ARTS REVIEWS|publisher=The Herald|date= 1 May 2007|accessdate = 10 June 2009|last= Cooper|first= Neil|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070804033843/http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresartsreview/display.var.1365758.0.0.php|archive-date = 4 August 2007|url-status= dead|df = dmy-all}} opened at the Traverse in May 2007 and explored the themes of "power, politics, and decadence, set against the improbable background of the Third Punic War, in 149BC."{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article1733614.ece |title=Carthage Must Be Destroyed |work=The Times |date=2 May 2007 |accessdate=10 June 2009 |last=Scott |first=Robert Dawson |location=London |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615154447/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article1733614.ece |archivedate=15 June 2011 }} and won the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) Best New Play award for 2007–2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.criticsawards.theatrescotland.com/Winners/07-08.html|title=Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2007–08 Winners|publisher=Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland|accessdate=9 June 2009}} The citation said "'A mature, meaty, engrossing drama about power, politics and decadence, Alan Wilkins Carthage Must Be Destroyed was a gripping indictment of the corruptions of Empire."{{cite web|url= http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/theatrefilmtelevisionstudies/newsandevents/|title= Theatre, Film & Television Studies :: News and Events|publisher= University of Glasgow|accessdate= 10 June 2009|archive-url= https://archive.today/20121223023317/http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/theatrefilmtelevisionstudies/newsandevents/|archive-date = 23 December 2012|url-status= dead|df= dmy-all}} It was also produced by the Theatre Royal in Bath.

{{cite web|url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/22590/carthage-must-be-destroyed |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611144539/http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/22590/carthage-must-be-destroyed |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 June 2011 |title=Carthage Must Be Destroyed |publisher=The Stage |date=2 December 2008 |accessdate=10 June 2009 |last=Brien |first=Jeremy }}

In 2008, Wilkins scripted Can We Live With You? for Lung Ha's theatre company, which works with people with learning disabilities. The play was performed at the Traverse in April 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.list.co.uk/article/7259-can-we-live-with-you/|title=Can We Live With You? – Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh|accessdate=10 June 2009|date=27 March 2008|last=Fisher|first=Mark|work=The List }} Offshore, produced by Birds of Paradise, was a play set against the background of the decline of the Scottish fishing industry and its effect on small communities. Wilkins used his own background, working as a barman in Wester Ross, as background material.{{cite web|url=http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/885182?UserKey= |title=Stormy times offshore – Press & Journal |publisher=Press and Journal |location=Aberdeen |date=16 October 2008 |accessdate=10 June 2009 |last=Brodie |first=Caroline |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403034115/http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/885182?UserKey= |archivedate=3 April 2012 }}

It played in Edinburgh and on tour in the autumn of 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.list.co.uk/article/13369-offshore/|title=Offshore – Seen at Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow |publisher=The List|date=2 October 2008|accessdate=10 June 2009|last=Fisher|first=Mark}}

Wilkins also taught on the Masters of Literature programme at the University of Glasgow and is a doctoral student at that institution. In 2008, he led a play-writing course for inmates at Polmont young offenders' institution, the results of which were performed at the Traverse in December 2008.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/nov/06/theatre-inmates-scotland-prisons|title=Mark Fisher on the Scottish inmates who are writing plays |work=The Guardian|date=2 November 2008|accessdate=10 June 2009|last=Fisher|first=Mark}}

Wilkins also worked with Dundee Repertory Theatre, the Aldeburgh Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.traverse.co.uk/documents/Trav-Spring07-Brochure.pdf |title=Traverse Theatre Spring 2007 Brochure |publisher=Traverse Theatre |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517115742/http://www.traverse.co.uk/documents/Trav-Spring07-Brochure.pdf |archivedate=17 May 2008 }}

and was funded by the Scottish Arts Council to represent his country as a tutor / playwright at the 2006 Interplay Festival in Liechtenstein.{{cite web|url=http://www.worldinterplay.org/childsplay/cgi-bin/show_page.pl/5/148 |title=Interplay Europe |publisher=Interplay |accessdate=10 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914121009/http://www.worldinterplay.org/childsplay/cgi-bin/show_page.pl/5/148 |archivedate=14 September 2009 }}

Wilkins died on 7 September 2022, at the age of 52.{{cite news |title=A Tribute to Alan Wilkins |url=https://www.traverse.co.uk/news/a-tribute-to-Alan-Wilkins |access-date=10 September 2022 |publisher=Traverse Theatre |date=9 September 2022}}