work.txt (Modern Plays)

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Nathan Ellis said, "I wrote the show as a sort of satire of the always-on, never-stopping work culture, and then the whole world stopped because of COVID. As the pandemic recedes, it's fascinating and depressing to see how the energy of just-getting-going-again is mirrored by the play. I hope work.txt asks big questions about why we're all working so hard, and if we can't imagine a different sort of relationship to work. The show is about community and working together and play - it literally doesn't happen without the audience, so I'm thrilled it's happening in-person again at the Soho Theatre. I'm excited to get to work." Writer Nathan Ellis is a member of the BBC Drama Room and has several television projects in development. On stage he is known for his debut No One Is Coming to Save You as well as the critically acclaimed work.txt – a play without actors. Now under the direction of Blanche McIntyre, Soho Theatre will present the world premiere of Super High Resolution. The play, which focuses on the NHS, was shortlisted for the prestigious Verity Bargate Award, the judging panel of which included Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Ellis took time out to speak with us about his latest theatrical offering. Alongside its fast cars, dizzying theatrical devices and pounding beats, Common Wealth's Peaceophobia counters prejudice with stories of humour, passion, and belief. Read our full review here. Photo: Ian Hodgson Dykegeist @ Summerhall (★★★★) Nathan Ellis is a writer for stage and screen. In 2020 his play Super High Resolution was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award run by the Soho Theatre, coming in the top six out of 1500 submitted plays. His plays include No One Is Coming to Save You (a 'blazing debut' (the Guardian), published by Oberon) and work.txt (**** the Guardian). In 2021, he made Still Life, a digital play series commissioned by Nottingham Playhouse. He has TV projects in development with Greenacre Films and Balloon Entertainment. He is represented by Giles Smart at United Agents and is based between London and Berlin. By the time I read Graeber’s article, I’d already had this made pretty clear to me by work.txt, a performance which was on a surface level, and I think on its deepest level too, against this. But the way it operated was almost a mimicry of the ruling class position: it was a play in which I had no time on my hands in which to really consider exercising my autonomy. I felt like my job as an audience member-participant was of replication, not of creation – not even ancillary but arbitrary. In participating you become extremely aware of yourself as a maker of the world you inhabit, but you are not quite sure what this is in service of.

There are so many budding writers but it’s an incredibly competitive field and one that’s notoriously hard to break into. What advice would you give to someone hoping to write a script and get it out there? Are there any writers who influence or inspire you at all? Have any particular plays stood out for you in recent years? The play concludes with a sort of semi-serious ramble about various existentially surreal future predictions which don’t seem to be saying anything in particular, “In 50,000 years, light will dress for the job it wants”, furthering the impression that the script is by the by. The form, however, is fairly effective in as much as instead of paying a professional cast, the audience is made to work, not only not being compensated for their work, but actually paying for the honour, which many will find a familiar ploy in the gig economy.It opens with the usual Dublin Fringe Festival notice: welcome to the show, please take note of emergency exits and switch off mobile phones. Meanwhile, words are projected on to the wall of the theatre telling the audience to ignore the instructions and to leave their phones on. This sets the tone for the show, with the projection acting as a sort of all-seeing eye. The show nearly gets to some interesting points about zero hour contracts, but never really arrives at the point of saying something truly impactful. Perhaps if an Uber or Deliveroo driver was in the audience, and allowed to relate their experiences, there could be some more interesting results. But ultimately, the script is Big Brother, and we have to follow our instructions. You’re currently developing some projects for TV and you are part of the BBC Drama Room. How differently do you approach a screenplay to a stage play?

Alok Vaid-Menon blends vulnerability with humour in an unapologetic and defiant hour of performance. Read our full review here. Photo: Lottie AmorI struggled for a long while over whether work.txt was a successful reconception of work. There is a deceptiveness to the whole set up that that made it hard for me endorse its vision. I felt like it was out to get me. But in the weeks since, trying to piece together my own conception of what work I wanted to do, what I felt to be ‘good’ work, I found that the act of reconception is itself a spur to further reconception, and my own dissatisfactions with what work.txt did and how it worked were necessary and intentional. Do you think theatre is in a good place currently? What, if anything, do you think is missing from the art form? There are some parts of work.txt that I have struggled to remember, but I think all of these parts can be suitably covered with the following summary: you spend an hour anxiously watching the side of your screen to be sure you don’t miss a task sent to you by the chat function. You are so busy making sure you do your work on time that it makes it difficult to do anything else.