To kick off this blog, I thought I'd put in a few quotes and answer the questions raised:
'My class and I have just finished reading 'Burning Everest. I thought it was brilliant..My favourite character was Stubby because he just ignores all the people who call him names. ..I was just wondering if you have an interest in Mount Everest like Jim' - Shannon
I've never been to Mount Everest, but would love to go one day. It was reading about George Mallory's disappearance on the mountain which originally got me interested in that side of the play.
' In the play Jim's mother Sharon put him in foster care and married Matt. I apologise for asking but has anything like that ever happened to you?' - Chloe
No - I was never in foster care. But I know of children who had been through some quite similar experiences to Jim. And I think most people are familiar at some time in their life with some of the emotions he feels - for example: rejection, the fear of losing someone dear to us, the frustrated anger that makes you lash out at people close to you and so on. So it was fairly easy to imagine what might have been going on in his head.
'Why did you put someone with a prosthetic leg into your story?' - Dean
I don't think I consciously decided to have a character with a physical disability in the play - that was simply how Stubby was when I imagined him. Later, when the play was finished, I was quite glad I had, because it made an interesting contrast with Jim, who appears to be in perfect health, but whose problems are all on the inside, where they aren't immediately obvious to the people who have to deal with him.
It's always great to hear from people reading or performing the plays. If anyone else has any thoughts or questions you want answered about any of them, please send them to: hello@adrianflynwriter.com