Meet Roger Francis, a Hammersmith resident, whose new play is coming to Riverside Studios' Bitesize Festival later this month thanks to the backing he got from H&F's Macbeth Centre.
Roger – a father of three boys – has lived near Ravenscourt Park for 12 years and is a retired IT specialist turned playwright.
In November 2022, he started a creative writing class at the Macbeth Centre in Hammersmith and then went on to join a playwriting group at Riverside Studios – called Riverscribes.
His new play A Chat with Adonai will debut on Wednesday 31 January and run until Sunday 4 February. Get your tickets on the Riverside Studios website.
Roger’s story
Roger first joined Rasheda Malcolm's writing class at the Macbeth Centre, after cutting back on his professional work.
"The class has helped me overcome the initial nervousness I had about sharing my writing with other people. It's been really encouraging, welcoming and inclusive," he explained.
He has had major success in Rasheda's course, with his short story winning an award at the Hammersmith & Fulham Writers' Festival in 2023.
"Since I enjoyed the class at Macbeth so much, when I noticed that there was a Writing for the Stage class at the Riverside, I decided to give that a go. I told Nadine – the fantastic woman who runs Riverscribes – that I'd previously done some prose, and she helped me look at how I could convert that," he said.
Roger has put on two smaller scale performances through the programme run by Nadine Gray, and now he's excited to share a longer piece. "A Chat with Adonai is about how people try to understand the meaning of life under the pressure of modern society," Roger explained.
Support a local artist and book your ticket on Riverside Studios' website.
Inspired to write?
It's not too late to follow in Roger's footsteps! Rasheda's new creative writing class has just started. Call 020 8753 3600 to sign up – don't worry if you missed the first session.
Or if you're keen to try playwriting, drop into Riverscribes. They meet every third Wednesday of the month, 7pm to 8.30pm.
"Whether you've been writing for 10 years or you've never written before, Riverscribes is open to anybody," Nadine said.
