It is slowly starting to dawn that I may be a writer. In July, I was lucky to win the Crime Writers’ Association’s Short Story Dagger, and, honestly, one of the highlights was reading the little booklet that listed nominees – because it included summaries of the stories. That meant there was someone else writing about characters and plot points I’d created. It meant they’d actually read and remembered my words. And I don’t think that feeling will ever fade.
You can imagine, I think, how amplified that sensation was when I stepped into a rehearsal from the Seagull Amateurs, a local theatre group of which I’m a member in Lowestoft. Because they are rehearsing a play I wrote, back in 2019.
I shall never forget walking into a community hall the other week and being greeted with the words, ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Jessica Brick.’
Jessica is a character I created many years ago, and she has appeared in several short stories. She models herself after Miss Marple, but she is always wrong. In Clue-Don’t, my play, she pits her wits against her arch-rival, a flamboyant French detective called Achille Pierrot, to solve a country house mystery. Suspects include the saucy Miss Camilla Crimson, her shifty fiancé Colonel Charles Coleman, the gossipy Reverend Julius Lime, and a no-nonsense housekeeper Mrs Mildred Grey. You get the idea.
I am so excited that this production is coming to the Seagull Theatre in Pakefield, Lowestoft. The Seagull is a beautiful converted Victorian school, and is a true community theatre.
The production runs in November 2025. You can find out more on the theatre’s website.
JC Bernthal 