Samuel Bailey is the writer of new play, Sorry, You’re Not a Winner, a coming of age tale navigating class, friendship and new surroundings.
Sorry, You’re Not A Winner will debut at Theatre Royal Plymouth from 24 February for a limited 2 week run before touring around the UK, including Bristol and Newcastle with further dates to be announced.
Samuel Bailey is a writer born in London and raised in the West Midlands. His play SHOOK won the Papatango Prize in 2019. After a sold-out run at the Southwark Playhouse, Papatango created a digital version of the play in collaboration with James Bobin. The film was a NY Times Critic’s Pick and won Samuel the Times Breakthrough Award at the South Bank Show Sky Arts Awards. Previously, Samuel has been part of Old Vic 12, the Orange Tree Writer’s Collective and a recipient of an MGCFutures bursary.
Your new play, Sorry, You’re Not a Winner, is heading out on a UK Tour, what can you tell us about the play?
It’s a play about two mates, Liam and Fletch, and their friendship and how it changes when Liam leaves home to go to Oxford University. It takes place over about 8 years in their lives, from 18 to 26/27 and we drop in at various moments during that time as their lives intersect.
What inspired you to write Sorry, You’re Not a Winner?
It came from a personal place. I didn’t go to Oxbridge but I left home to go to University and it was a culture shock. I was coming from a working-class background and I didn’t see many people like me in that environment.
I’m interested in the concept of social mobility and what it means – like, does it exist? And if it does exist, is it good for everybody? I think it’s often sold as a thing that if you’re from a poorer background and you want to succeed, you have to leave where you’re from in order be something. So, I wanted to interrogate that idea and ask how it might impact the people who go through that experience.
I’ve written about it from the perspective of a white, working class male. Partly, because that’s my own experience and partly because they are statistically the demographic least likely to go on to higher education. I think it’s important we ask why that is.
What is it about this story of two best friends that you think will resonate with audiences the most?
Hopefully everyone can connect to the central relationship in the play. I think lots of us have got that mate where you think – if I met this person now, would we be friends? Friendships, especially those made when we’re kids, inevitably ebb and flow and that’s a really interesting dynamic to explore, particularly between two young men.
For whatever reason, men’s friendships often don’t last like women’s do and without that support network men can get isolated. I hope this play acts as a celebration of male friendship. It’s important. Check on your boys!
You had tremendous success with Shook, what did you learn from that experience that helped you to write Sorry, You’re Not a Winner?
It sounds proper cheesy, but just being true to the story you want to tell. It’s important to listen to the people around you, theatre is a collaborative art form and I’m lucky to work with some incredible artists without whom the play wouldn’t be half what it is, but you need to make sure you don’t lose the heart of the play – the reason you started writing it in the first place.
Tell us about some of the outreach and engagement programmes that will accompany the production?
We’ve got a close connection with the University of Plymouth and their current drama students. So, there will be a 2-week residency programme for the UoP students to give them an insight into Paines Plough’s process of making new work – using the play as a springboard. There’s also paid placement opportunities and lots of talks and workshops centred on skills training and demystifying new writing, which hopefully I’ll be getting involved with.
What would you say to anyone thinking of coming to see Sorry, You’re Not a Winner?
Stop thinking and come. I’ll be in the bar after x
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