Francis Beckett: playwright
After a successful three week run at the Bridewell Theatre in Fleet Street, Francis Beckett's play, Money Makes You Happy, is being published by Samuel French in Autumn 2008.
Jeremy, the once-fashionable author of Trekking to Paradise, has spent ten years buried deep in the countryside, failing to write his second book. His only connection with the big city was the smart and sexy corporate lawyer Ruth, who came down at weekends to share his grubby garret, buy him nice meals, and leave him with enough Irish whiskey and cannabis to last until her next visit. Then, suddenly, Ruth stops coming. And after a couple of years (for he does not do things in a hurry, and he hates London) Jeremy comes to look for her. A shock awaits him – or rather, several shocks. There’s a small child, of which he may or may not be the father, and a north London lifestyle which is as strange to him as if he were on Mars. If he wants to stay with Ruth – and, he finds, he does – he’s going to have to learn to live, and even to work, among the frenzied collection of shysters, bigots and egomaniacs who make up her world.
His latest play, The Right Honourable Lady, will be published by Samuel French next year.
Francis Beckett’s other plays include:
The Sons of Catholic Gentlemen, which won the Independent Radio Drama Productions award, and was broadcast by London Broadcasting.
Hide The Front Page, which was performed by the First Draft Theatre Company at a series of London fringe venues including the Hen and Chickens in Islington in 2006.