Draft two. Phew.

Now it’s time to hear it read out by some actors and play with some staging ideas before getting it ready for rehearsal and production. With the generous support of the National Theatre Studio, we’ll be doing that in mid-April.

It’s going to be quite an experience for Noah and I to see how the main characters in the play – who are in fact not characters at all, but living, breathing people – are brought to life by the actors. When playing real people and working with their stories, the temptation is often to attempt an impersonation rather than an interpretation. I suspect it will be quite difficult to let go of the image we have of each individual, wanting to make sure they are not misrepresented and also because we want the audience to be as interested in and as inspired by them as we have been throughout the research and writing process.

One of the characters, Zoriah Miller, an American photojournalist who travels the world, painstakingly documenting wars and disasters, is in Haiti at the moment, trying to make sure the world doesn’t move on from that disaster too quickly. I highly recommend subscribing to his blog and keeping up with his incredible work.

We’re looking at an October/November run … with the details tantalisingly close to being announced – so watch this space! In the meantime, we’ll be trying to raise the necessary cash to pay for it all – so anyone who needs to get rid of some before the end of the tax year and who wants to help us tell the stories of seven remarkable journalists, please do let us know!

By Christine Bacon, co-Artistic Director