SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Raising the curtain

‘I’ve always considered myself to be a writer, having written poems and short stories since childhood,’ writes subscriber Samantha Ball.

‘Now, after publishing my debut book A History & Celebration of The Playhouse Theatre, Weston-super-Mare, I can now officially call myself an author.

‘When I held my launch party on 7 September 2019, the three years of hard work were made all worthwhile and I felt further validated as a writer when I walked into Waterstones and saw my book on the local interest shelf.

‘As a full time senior administrator in the NHS, I also work at The Playhouse Theatre on a casual basis, selling and handing out tickets in the box office and it was during one of my shifts that I got the idea for my book. With the theatre having been destroyed by fire in 1964, 2019 marked the fiftieth anniversary of its re-opening so I decided to do some research about the history of the theatre and my journey began.

‘After extensive research – including countless hours looking at microfilm in the local library – both locally and also including the V&A Archives in London as well as interviews with staff past and present and an exchange of letters with Patron of The Friends of The Playhouse Sir Ken Dodd, I was finally able to realise my dream of becoming an author. After a lot of hard work (whilst continuing to work both jobs), my book was self published by Redcliffe Publishing in September 2019, just in time for the anniversary.

‘Paying for marketing through my publishers as well as working hard myself to get my book known to the world,