User:The Theatre Man

Pete Lewis Drake - playwright

Born in Canada and brouught up in Lincolnshire, Pete Lewis Drake is a playwright with four titles to his credit. These are The Prisoner's Friend, GSOH, Autumn Winter Spring Summer and Ghosts. All four plays have been performed or broadcast either by amateur or professional organisations in the UK, Canada, Australia and India.

The Prisoner’s Friend is a historical drama based on a true incident in the First World War, when William Joseph Stones, a lance corporal from County Durham in the UK was accused, tried by Court Martial and executed for cowardice following an allegation that he ‘cast away arms in the presence of the enemy’. The title of the play comes from the name given to the junior officer, James Farringdon, who defended the accused man.

GSOH tells the comic tale of three middle aged men who set up an escort agency ‘for the discerning woman who refuses to settle for second best’. An early failure leads to the recruitment of a no - nonsense businesswoman, Maxine, who leads them to success and wealth, only to discover that neither of those things is what any of them want.

Autumn Winter Spring Summer is a one act play for four middle aged women, who meet monthly, to discuss books, their lives and other matters. As the year passes, it becomes clear that their growing friendship means more to them they any of them dare to admit.

Ghosts is a dark comedy set on a remote unnamed island where ex - reality tv star Johnny Gold lives alone, having rejected the world and its values. His peace is shattered by the arrival of Kerrigan, a brash, self - made millionaire who, on learning who the sole inhabitant of the island is determined to tell the world of the whereabouts of the missing tv star. What follows is a stand off between two men who want exactly opposite things.

Performance History The Prisoner’s Friend An early version of the play, a monologue, was performed at the Hill Street Theatre, Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival, then toured in Northumberland and Yorkshire with the late John Winter in the lead role. Subsequently, the full, multicharacter form of the play, with the same name, ran at the Gateshead Little Theatre in November 2017. GSOH The play has been performed in two theatres; the Gateshead Little Theatre in 2010 and the Carver Theatre, Marple, near Stockport in 2020. The play has also toured Northumberland, Tyneside and County Durham. An abridged version of the play was performed four times in Mississauga, near Toronto, Canada in 2023; twice in Spanish and twice in English as part of the Triple Threat Theatre Festival. Autumn Winter Spring Summer The play was written shortly before the lockdown period of Covid. To date there has been one performance of the play in Bicester, Oxfordshire by the Stages Theatrical Group. The play has also been recorded for Youtube and other platforms by White Cobra, a group based in Northamptonshire. Ghosts

Pete’s most recent play premiered in India under the direction of Vinod Anand, a well - known actor, producer and director from Chennai. The play toured several Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bangaluru.