Working At It

A profile of Liverpool playwright Alan Bleasdale With two new productions packing them in, in the North of England, ALAN BLEASDALE continues to build on the popular success of his TV plays The Black Stuff and Scully's New Year's Eve. Arena looks at the people and places - the tarmac gang, the school, the hospital and the docks around which he has woven his plays. 'I didn't know what a proscenium arch was till I was into my fourth play ... I'm writing about people and emotions, people at work, people in conflict ... I suppose I'm really writing about " laughter and tears ".'