Trip to NewOrleans

The piece continues Lisa’s fascination with America and with the American language in particular.

“I wanted to write a sister piece to my successful play for young people Stamping, Shouting And Singing Home which was set in America, and I love writing in American because the language is so wonderful and poetic and rhythmic.”

As always, she’s keen to weave the personal stories of invisible lives into huge dramatic events of the world stage.

“I wanted to write a ‘big moment in history’ play which was relatively contemporary and which pitted nature on the rampage against a distinctive social environment. Hurricane Katrina provided the exact occasion and location on which to base this new play.”

Her long fascination with the American civil rights movement had already focused her mind on events which highlighted the best and the worst of politics and the human spirit under George W Bush. And now along comes Barack Obama, as the great hope - though sadly much of the promised work in New Orleans has yet to materialise.

“He did have a Messianic aura about him, but there is such huge resistance”, says Lisa. Obama’s attempts to reform the health service underline the fact that we are dealing with a very very right-wing country, she believes.

Also there was talk that people need to be self-sufficient, that they can’t just expect to be rescued: “People have to look after themselves. It seemed like that was the message, that society takes care of its own and the poor are fragile. You are just driving your wagon…”

As for the language, Lisa is assisted by the fact that she used to live and work in the States:” And we have got a wonderful voice coach who is on the button as to how accurate it is.