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Hi, I'm Marc Harris, a Hertfordshire based playwright, singer-songwriter, guitarist, poet and artist with a passion for writing, music and art. I have been writing for over three decades, which has included full length and short plays, monologues, poetry, 60 topical/satirical comedy sketches and songs (some co-written) and over 30 contemporary and folk songs. I have been playwriting since 2016 and enjoy writing in a naturalistic way with a sprinkling of humour whenever possible. (Writing a gag again, never wanted to. What am I to do? I can't help it! With apologies to Marlene Dietrich). I tend to add a sentimental tone to a script – certainly something to entertain and uplift, rather than anything downbeat, which I feel is all too common. As the late comedy playwright Sam Bobrick (www.sambobrick.com) commented, 'My main goal is to entertain, to have people leaving the theatre feeling good. Life is tough enough. Why send an audience home suicidal?' I couldn't agree more.
A recurring theme running though most of my work is one of hope and kindness - which I'm happy to promote. I like to write about the human condition - hopefully something thought provoking which is mixed with humour. As music is so important in setting the feel of a play, I also enjoy choosing songs and music to complement each one. My aim is purely to entertain with my writing and to see my plays staged professionally and by amateurs. Each play written is an achievement in itself and a position I could not have dreamt of being in a decade ago. I feel that every piece since the first one is an unexpected and enjoyable bonus.
I particularly enjoy the writing of Alan Bennett, Victoria Wood, Willy Russell, Mike Leigh, Neil Simon, Richard Curtis, Sue Townsend, Bryan Forbes, J.B. Priestley, Joyce Grenfell, David Nobbs, Mitch Albom, Eric Chappell, Spike Milligan, David Renwick, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, Richard Matheson, William Rose, Billy Wilder, Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and Gerald Wiley (aka the genius Ronnie Barker). I'd better stop before I run out of ink.
Theatricality and performance runs in the family and perhaps this has had an influence on my imagination and writing. I gave many classical guitar recitals at music festivals and concerts throughout my school days, my great-grandmother was a piano teacher, my grandfather studied at The Royal Academy of Music and was a semi-professional singer in the 1940s (with even a fan club!), my great aunt trained at RADA (in the same class as Pat Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock's daughter), my mother was due to begin a scholarship at Sadler’s Wells (which was not realised unfortunately) and my eldest nephew is a brilliant professional magician and member of The Magic Circle (not that I'm biased at all but I highly recommend him - www.josephglass.com)
I first found my stage feet in my teens with an amateur, annual, topical/satirical comedy revue company, which honed my writing and performance skills and which I loved performing in until my early thirties. In my twenties, I enjoyed singing at numerous venues in a four-part harmony choir and was also lucky enough to be involved in four large scale musicals with Applause Young Variety Club at The Bloomsbury Theatre (with West End musical and BBC comedy directors), which were great fun. From 2004 - 2011 I regularly performed a set of Gershwin, Berlin, Bart, Porter and Rodgers & Hart songs with a piano accompanist and since 2011 I have been singing with my guitar. (I began singing and playing guitar when I was age 7, before studying classical music). For the past 14 years, I have also been 'resident musician', performing twice a year in the tranquil and acoustically pleasing setting of the 1930s conservatory at Broomfield Park, London.
To summarise my playwriting achievements - three short plays have been recorded as audio plays by Theatrical Shenanigans and Talisman Theatre, several of my monologues have reached the Global Finals and Regional Finals of the World Monologue Games - winning bronze in the Endurance Category in the Final in 2024 for my comedy 'Last Egg & Cress Standing', three plays have been shortlisted by Pintsized Plays, Stables Theatre New Play Competition (Hastings) and Halifax Thespians and my comedy monologue 'When I Grow Up?' was performed in Kyiv at a Monologue Night in 2024 (winning joint first place). In July 2024 my one act comedy-drama 'Cliff on the Edge' was performed as part of the New Writing Festival at Abbey Theatre, St Albans and 'Last Egg & Cress Standing' was performed in Dial M for Monologue at the same theatre in May 2025.
In October 2026 two of my plays will be produced - a short comedy-drama 'Stop and Smell the Roses' by HHTheatreCo in Three's A Crowd at Boxmoor Playhouse, Hemel Hempstead and a one act drama 'Come In No. 8' by Company of Ten at Abbey Theatre. Since spring 2023 I have been involved in co-ordinating the writing group at the Abbey Theatre, organising regular meetings to enable writers to read new material for constructive feedback, assisting with rehearsed reading events and regularly emailing writing articles and playwriting opportunities
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