Interview with Playwright Alex Jones

Furious Theatre is thrilled to be hosting British playwright Alex Jones here in the States for the world premiere of his play Canned Peaches in Syrup. Before Alex Jones got to the U.S. journalist Ina Rometsch caught up with him for an interview about the play. Enjoy!

Alex, are you a survivor?
I’ve been in the Navy for about a year and I have done survival training there. And now I’m still in this business, which is pretty hard to survive in. I’ve had some hard times, and I’ve been pretty broke. But I’m still writing plays and I get them produced, so I must be a survivor. What characteristics does a survivor need? You have to be resourceful. You have to be able to take a few blows. And you have to be understanding. Because if you want to survive, you need to get on with others and make compromises sometimes.

In your play, our future looks rather grim. How much longer do you give mankind?
If things don’t change very soon and we don’t do something about emissions, then I think within the next 50 years we’ll be seeing cataclysmic changes in the weather patterns. It has already started to happen, and it will get worse. I wrote this play when I started wondering what the world would be like when global warming went out of control – about 12 years ago.

If you were stuck in the world of the play, what would be your survival strategy?
I don’t think I’d survive very long. That’s a pretty brutal world in the play. I don’t think I would be a cannibal, though. But having said that, you never know...

Is there a character you can identify with?
Probably Bill. Although he is a cannibal, he’s Mister Nice Guy. He is friends with Scab and stands up for him when everybody else wants to eat him. I like Bill. But if I had to be cast in the play, I’d probably be Scab. I normally get to play these quirky, crazy roles. Maybe it’s because I look a bit weird. In my last role I was playing a 14 year old schoolgirl...

If you knew that the end of the world was to happen next week – would you still be writing plays?
I don’t think so. I’d be off to the supermarket to get some really good wine. And then I’d be having a nice big party!