From a Single Poem to a Full-Scale Production
How Do You Go from a Single Poem to a Full-Scale Theatrical Production and an Entire Storytelling Festival, and a Packed Audience?
Around 2015, my husband, Alan, wrote a single poem titled The Tears of a Mother. It was an emotional response to the current affairs of the time.
It was a great poem, but it felt like an unfinished story. There was too much left to say.
I asked Alan to keep working on it.
He did.
The story grew into several characters and the big idea we wanted to tell. It became I Am Bastard I Am War. Alan wrote it. I edited it. We debated the story a thousand times. We published the book, and Alan further adapted it into a theatrical script.
Eleven years later, that single poem, which began on a blank piece of paper, became the heart of an entire Altrincham Storytelling Festival.
It brought together people from across the region through a production of I Am Bastard I Am War, with twenty-two cast and creative team members bringing Alan's words to life.
Here's what happened.
Through the Alan Forrest Smith Literary Foundation, and as producer of the Altrincham Storytelling Festival, I brought together actors, artists, filmmakers, community organisations and creative partners around one simple idea:
Creativity Revealed.
At the heart of the festival was I Am Bastard I Am War—a work that began as a single poem on a blank piece of paper eleven years earlier and became the centrepiece of an entire storytelling festival.
As Alan's wife, I was proud.
As the producer, I was equally proud to witness artists bring new layers of interpretation and creativity to the original writing.
This Altrincham Storytelling Festival and the play production, I Am Bastard I Am War, laid the foundations for this important work under the Alan Forrest Smith Literary Foundation.
Other festival highlights included Story Publishing, delivered by myself, alongside Oscar and BAFTA-nominated filmmakers, animation, theatre and storytelling.
The Altrincham Storytelling Festival 2026 was a great success, and I hope to meet you in person at next year's festival.
At the heart of it all is storytelling and writing, with the natural development of stories that begin on paper.
So, if you have a story to tell, there are several ways I can help. Contact me here and let me know about your project or an idea.
