Wing & a Prayer Productions

'The Writer's Tale: Why Tim Crooks is keeping it local'

Tim Crooks wrote a romance set in an operating theatre in just 24 hours.  Next week it receives its premiere.  How did he do it?

They say that artists struggle for their art.  For Alex, that's certainly true: the only time he gets to show off his creative streak is when he's busy stacking shelves in the supermarket.  But unlike Damien Hirst's creations, no one wants to pay £10m for 'Pile of Baked Bean Cans' or 'Bags of Sugar, Some Split'.

His love life is almost as hot as his career.  Instead of being the toast of the art world with supermodels hanging on his arm he feels past the sell-by date in the dating game.

So when he falls head over heels with a surgeon's assistant he'd do anything to chat her up-including posing as a surgeon.

But his attempts to have a heart to heart soon end up with him over an open heart with a scalpel at the ready...

Sound a little far fetched?  Well, there's a reason for that.  It's come from the fertile imagination of a Reading playwright, actor and director, Tim Crooks.

His comic one-act play, 'An Operation of the Heart', is one of three being performed as part of the Thrice As Nice new writing festival.  It takes place at the Studio Theatre in South Hill Park over three days next week.

"It's always satisfying to have your work recognised by someone else," says Tim.

"It's reassuring when someone else finds a line funny that you find funny too."

The plays chosen for the mini-season were all competition entries, making Tim even more excited that his work has been recognised.  What makes his entry unique is that it was written in just a day.

"I set myself the challenge of writing the play within 24 hours-that's everything, the conception, the plot and the script," he reveals.

"I thought it might have been rubbish, but reading it back I was pleasantly pleased with the result."

Thrice As Nice isn't just notable for being written by local people, it's a complete community production: The People's Playhouse, who are organising the performances, are all local, along with the cast and backstage crew and proceeds from the performances will be used to fund people who couldn't otherwise afford to go on performing arts courses.

And when the curtain rises next week, Tim will be watching to see what they've made of his work.

"For me it's quite unusual to have written a play and then not been involved in the rest of the creative process at all," he says.  "I'm looking forward to being a member of the audience and seeing what they've done with it on the night."

But this isn't the first time that Tim's writing has made it through to a final before: it's actually the fifth contest he's been a finalist in since last year, when one of his plays was performed at Wisconsin's Snowdance Festival.

His entry was even more remarkable as it was the only one from this side of the Atlantic.

"While it was great to be performed in the States, it was disappointing not to be able to see the finished result.  It's great to be able to put that right this time round," he says of the Thrice As Nice performance.

Another American contest he entered was organised by an all-female theatre company, Babes With Blades.  Again a finalist, this time he was the only male entrant.  The competition was to promote plays with swordfights for female actors, something that Tim willingly obliged with.

"In a funny kind of way, it was an honour to be the only bloke on that shortlist," he says.

It's all in a day's work for Tim, 30, who lives in Newtown, Reading.  He spends his days devising sketches and plays, along with the odd spot of acting as well.  He's even been commissioned to write a sitcom by an Arabic TV station.

Tim cut his drama teeth by writing and performing with the Reading University Drama Society, taking part inits annual outdoor Shakespeares while studying there (winning the society's coveted Best Actor award).

But it wasn't until after university, while he was working in Reading's branch of The Body Shop, that he decided to make the jump to become a full-time writer-even though it meant no steady income.

"It's not easy to make ends meet on a writer's salary," Tim confesses.  "But I felt I had to make that leap.  Winning Thrice As Nice is another confidence boost along the road to becoming a successful playwright."

Thankfully, it appears that Tim's dedication is starting to pay off.  Earlier this year, one of his plays, 'Captive Audience', sold out when it was performed at the Oakwood Theatre in Woodley, some of his sketch material was performed on BBC7 in April and a sitcom he's written for an Arabic TV station is currently in pre-production (Tim spent some of his formative years living in the Middle-East, so he's familiar with the culture and what would make an appropriate joke).

The sitcom is, Tim says, an Arab equivalent to 'Friends'.

"The producers really loved the concept behind 'Friends', but it's not appropriate for an Arab audience.  The sitcom, when it's made, focuses on similar values of friendship and loyalty revolving around a coffee shop," he reveals.

"The humour is more like ours of 50 years ago: gentler and simpler.  It's something the whole family will be able to watch and enjoy."

It's a world away from his sketch material which was performed on BBC7's topical sketch show, 'Tilt'.  One of his skits, attacking political correctness, would not have gone down so well with his potential Arab audience.

"That's part and parcel of being a writer: having to produce different things," he says.

"Although a lot of my writing has been for a Church audience, there's no way some of my material could be deemed suitable for a Sunday morning!  The challenge of writing fitting material for different audiences appeals to me."

But this isn't all Tim has in mind.  He's currently entering a contest organised by Tony Jordan's production company, Red Planet, which has been set up to unearth TV drama writers.

Jordan is the brains behind numerous classic EastEnders moments as well as co-creator of a string of shows including Life on Mars and Hustle.

"Tony Jordan didn't start writing until he was 33-with no writing qualifications, which I find quite inspiring," Tim says.

"I've written the first 10 pages of my entry.  It's a new twist on Arabian Nights; call it Aladdin meets Spooks via The West Wing."

He confesses that he doesn't know where he gets his ideas from.  But with a broad cornucopia of sketches, skits, dramas and rib-ticklers under his blet, Tim is not complaining.

"I believe you've got to follow your heart in life.  I believe my talents are in writing and I don't know where they're going to take me, but it's fun finding out."

By Phil Creighton