How playwright Rebekah Harrison is challenging perspectives on extremism and identity

Rebekah Harrison is a TV writer and playwright who writes about things she cares about.

Whether that is the mental health of staff in the NHS for the BBC continuing drama Casualty, or growing pains and identity in Waterloo Road.

Rebekah has worked in the community in many roles prior to becoming a writer, including youth work.

And she is inspired by many of the great working-class writers she has grown up with, and she strives to give the voiceless a mouthpiece through the power of theatre and television.

She recently wrote an excellent short play for the biannual celebration of bite-sized theatre – that is, JB Shorts.

And she returns to the stage at 53two, as she has written a new and timely piece about far right extremism – What Does it Take to Slay a Dragon?

Even though this play and the issues it raises are thought-provoking, there is humour and even the odd song.

I caught up with this enthusiastic and passionate writer in between rehearsals for a coffee and a chat, to find out more about the play and what inspired her to write it, as well as why she views 53two as a place of salvation.

What inspired you to write What Does it Take to Slay a Dragon?

It is a play I have been writing since 2019, it is a subject area I have been interested in for longer than that. 2019 was post-Brexit and the time of UKIP and the General Election and Brexit Deal/No Deal. It felt like the rise of the right and nationalism was a big issue, even bigger than before and people were not talking about it. And they did not have the language to talk about it, and I think that has become more so. It felt like the right time to do it, as in theatre we do not have the language to talk about it.

In the media, we have villains and heroes, everything is so back and white, so how do you avoid stereotyping in a play like this one?

For me, I do think there is a lack of nuance whenever we talk about most things on social media. The way that many of us inform our views and get our news is from social media. There is such a lack of nuance in that, and it is so quick and so short form that is a major problem in how we are having these debates, and how we are having these conversations. I hope this play goes some way to see a story about a character who is normal man goes on a journey, and we go on that journey with him. And the play in the way that it is written and, in its form, attempts to make no judgements. It allows the audience to do that and have their own conversations afterwards.

And that is the power of theatre, and I think the fact that we are all in a room together and we experience that same story and we take different things from it is one of the most amazing things about theatre. And this play really does that and gives space for that. I think the conversations in the bar afterwards or when people go home afterwards are as important as the 80 or so minutes, they spend in the theatre space.

Yes, there are no limited characters, as in words as there are in social media, so it gives audiences time to breathe and then talk.

Life is messy, situations are messy, so what is often missing is where the people come from and their life experiences. It is something that as a writer I really try to encompass in the work I do. So, I like to create fully rounded characters that are neither heroes or villains, just people. People who sometimes do really awful things and sometimes do really heroic things. And in the middle of it all they are still making mistakes, and they are still living their lives. I think opening up that world and then getting audiences to talk about it is really important. Especially with these kinds of subjects.

How much do you feel working in communities, in various roles such as being a youth makes you a better writer, when it comes to delivering a sense of ‘truth?’

I have done a lot of youth work and community work, I have worked in women’s refuges, and I have worked on community projects. I think all of that and seeing a breadth of experiences and seeing what people are able to overcome to survive and leave a long-lasting challenge have been vital. I think as a writer you have a duty to portray people in a realistic way, in like a rounded way. I feel massively passionate in general that working class characters in lots of things I have seen have not always been portrayed in that way. They are not always portrayed as 3D, really rounded people who have dreams or aspirations. I am really passionate about portraying this in working class characters I hope that comes across here in this play.

Where does the thread of politics come from in your work?

The writers I grew up loving and always wanted to be like were writers like Jimmy McGovern, Kay Mellor and Russell.T. Davies. It is not necessarily about writing about politics or putting issues into your work, it’s the understanding that everyone is facing those issues. It’s like that classic meme, you’re not interested in politics, but you have weekends off, you have minimum wage – all of those kinds things show us that politics are part of everyone’s lives. I think for me it’s about creating a story that’s really interesting and then we can talk about these bigger things that are going in the world. Since we have been running Take Back Theatre which is 10 years this year – which is amazing, that has given us a platform to be able to that. It gives a space to explore things that we were already passionate about. The three of us (Myself, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Grant Archer) met through activism and politics so we were all already engaged in that world, and it has given us that opportunity to share this through the arts.

You could be called a Mars bar, as you work, rest and play at 53two. You write there, you come and socialise there, and you stage pieces there. What keeps you coming back for more?

This has been an amazing place for me to be able to write, hang out and meet people. It feels like for me since I have been in Manchester, which is about 13 years – there has always been a place like this. It is a space where you are probably going to see someone that you know. You also know that you can also find a corner where you can sit and write. And you can stay for hours, and no-one is going to tell you to move. And there is not that awkward thing of someone starting to take your coffee cup away. As soon as I gave this play to Simon Naylor to read, he was so keen on it, and he was so supportive. The whole team here have been so supportive, helping us to put it on at what is a really difficult time to stage theatre. We are in difficult times with arts council funding; people have got less disposable income and it’s hard to get audiences in. sometimes. The support we have had from here has been amazing. It is just a community here, you know there are going to be events on here.

You have written for Eastenders, Casualty and Waterloo Road. And storylines from these TV shows become talking points. Is there anything you have written here that makes you feel proud to have been a part of that?

Firstly, writing on those shows is something I am massively proud of, and it has always been a career goal of mine. They are shows that are sometimes looked down on by people in certain spheres of the arts. But the mass appeal of them and their loyal audiences and the fact that you can pitch a story that is so of the moment. And then you can see that unfold on TV in the shortest space of time is incredible. The bravery of these shows is also incredible. I am proud of all the storylines that I have been involved with and seeing other people’s work come to life.

I wrote an episode of Casualty which was once in Gogglebox and that was a proud moment. It was about a young nurse who was spiked on a night out. And the director did an amazing job conveying this. Then having that on Gogglebox and seeing it spark a conversation about the nature of consent and all of these kinds of things, including the responsibility of wider society was really important to me. Another one I was involved with an associate producer of Casualty, was mental health in the NHS. And I did a special episode which focused on five days in the life of a character, as he faced a breakdown. And that was really powerful. Looking at the pressures on NHS staff and write a show about the NHS was such a privilege.

When you write for the BBC for, Casualty, how do you get the balance right?

You have a responsibility when you are writing about the NHS because it is real. You want to represent those doctors and nurses in the right way. It has taught me a lot. Even with this play, I think writing on those shows and understanding bias and being informed of that has opened my eyes to look at a wider spectrum of views. But without agreeing with everyone and saying everyone’s got a point. I think it is about still making the point you want to make but also doing it in a way that is more nuanced and cleverer.

I always liken it to if there was a really right wing play in the centre of Manchester; the majority of people I know wouldn’t go along to have their minds transformed. As left-wing theatre makers, we have to be really careful of that and think about what we are trying to achieve? It’s about bringing people together and listening to others and sharing their experiences.

This play will provide audiences with a talking point but what do you want people to take away from it?

For me, I suppose it is about the wider conversation. The play works on many different levels. It has lots of different elements to it. I would hope that people will have conversations about where it leaves them and what they think about it. For me, it is not about whether we sympathise with the character of Billy, it’s more about the wider societal implications of where we are politically. And what that is creating for people. I would like people to go home and have conversations about the root causes of why Reform is doing really well in the polls and why people are turning to increasingly right-wing commentators and why people are finding this an outlet for them? And what in society do we need to do to change that? For me, it all comes back to things we talk about repeatedly: funding, the NHS, employment, poverty and how these affect our communities. That is what I hope people will do. And I want them to be entertained. There are songs in it, but it’s not a musical.

Tickets for What Does it Take to Slay a Dragon is at 53two

You can see Rebekah Harrison’s writing for yourself with What Does it Take to Slay a Dragon is at 53two from 11^th – 20^th June and can be booked here