"I like Chatham a lot"

What Steven asked Sam Hall, playright, graphic novelist, and one of the founders of the Medway River Lit festival

With the return of Medway River Lit, Steven sat down with Sam Hall at Café Nucleus to talk about her plays, her new graphic novel and telling stories of the Medway Towns.

Sam Hall (left) with Barry Fentiman-Hall of Wordsmithery and Medway River Lit

Please say your name for the record.
Sam. Well, I mean, if we're going for business, then Fentiman-Hall, but if we're going for writing, Sam Hall.

How do you want it in the interview?
That's confusing for people, though, isn't it? Sam Hall, yeah. It's just to demarcate it a bit and also because I had had plays out before I met Barry. That's why I just go with Sam Hall because then it's more confusing for people. But now it's confusing for people anyway.

Have you had any plays put on in Medway?
My graphic novel, My Mind is Free, was originally a play that's had quite a lot of productions, so it's been produced in London, it's been up at Edinburgh on the Edinburgh Fringe, it's had a little tour of Medway. It had about four venues in Medway, including here (Café Nucleus) actually.

What is your relationship with Wordsmithery and Medway River Lit?
I am the queen (laughs). I set Wordsmithery up with the aim of encouraging more people to get into writing and reading and now happily work on that with Barry. With regard the festivals, Barry has been more operational, whereas I am more strategic. Though on this festival we’ve been doing everything together.

Where were you born?
Bristol.

And what brought you to the Medway Town?
I lived in London for about 15 years and could never afford to buy anywhere. I ended up coming to Medway because it was 45 minutes by train! It's not really 45 minutes because you've got to walk to the station, you've got to get the train, you've got to then get the tube across London to your work. The first year that I lived in Medway, I was commuting to London, which absolutely exhausted me and just killed me basically because I was also doing the first year of my MA as well. I was doing that in the evenings, two nights a week in London. I think covid showed us it wasn't necessary, and yet many employers still insist on you doing it because they don't trust that you're going to be doing work from home.

Did you enjoy school?
I hated it. I really hated it. I didn't have much of a creative output at school, and I have always been very creative. It was drawing then and also writing. I did hate my school experience.

What did you do at university?
I did Film Studies and English. That was in London. I stayed in London after that. I got into journalism in London during my degree. I was volunteering for a local magazine. I then got into working for another local magazine, and I got the job as editor of this other local magazine, which wasn't very long-lived. Then I just ended up doing designin and producing publications for charities and organisations.

What was your Master’s in?
That was in Creative Writing. It was focusing on plays and screenplays rather than novels. Some of it was good, some of it not so good. I think it depends a lot on the tutor, doesn't it? Some of them were good, some not so good.

What was your first produced play?
It was a play called Pretty Boy, produced at the White Bear Theatre in London. It was a good and bad experience.

What was the good? Let's focus on the positive.
The good experience was just seeing how a play comes together. A lot of hard work. I think I built some props for that one and painted the floor and things like that. It's all very hands on. It's not very glamorous at all. It went down pretty well. We had the thing that everyone in the theatre always has that sometimes you're the only person in the audience in the Fringe Theatre. But there were a couple of days there were a lot of people in. There was one joke that made people wet themselves laughing every time, so that was quite satisfying to watch.

What is your official occupation now?
I'm going to say literature developer, but also writer and graphic novelist.

Who has been the best Prime Minister of your lifetime?
Well, that's not a fair question, is it? Have we had one? I'd say it was very exciting when I was a student, and Tony Blair came in. It was great, and you had that ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ tune. It sort of didn't. They did for a bit, and then they sort of didn’t. I don't think any have been great. What about Gordon? I think Gordon would have been good if he had a chance.

Where do you like to go for dinner in Medway?
Our favourite place would be just down the road, Taze. There's also a really good place in Rochester that we've recently started ordering from, The Cumin Club. Fan of the sandwiches at Mrs Sourdough.

In the world of writing plays and literature, what has been the big improvement to Medway in the time you've been here?
I'd say the way that the support from the council changed and also the valuing of what we do has increased since I started doing it. You had a thing at the beginning where it was the council putting on events that they invited you to be part of voluntarily. It has moved, not quickly but not slowly either, into the council recognising that they can't put every single event on. They started working with the creatives in the particular areas that they wanted an event to be put on as a partner, commissioning people to do things and actually paying them as well for it, which was the big change for a lot of freelancers. Rather than giving your time for free, you're getting compensated for it. Nobody in the creative industries is doing it because you want money. You're doing it because you love what you're doing, but you need the money in order to be able to pay your rent and have a cup of tea down Nucleus. That was a really big change and it allowed a lot of people in the local creative sector to take themselves more seriously because they were being taken seriously by the council, and their hard work and passion was being acknowledged.