James Fritz

Life and Time, my @bbcradio4 series exploring the prison system, returns today and tomorrow. 2.15pm on Radio 4 and @bbcsounds after. Series 2 focuses on the perspective of two prison officers. Wednesday’s episode is the stress. Thursday’s is the hope. Really proud of both. Crack cast for this one includes Robert Glenister, Rebekah Murrell, @gabinkongolo , Jason Barnett, Emma Handy, Chris Lew Kum Hoi and Ian Dunnett Jr. Thanks as ever to my brilliant director Tracey Neale, our whizz of Technical Producer Keith Graham and our Production Co-Ordinator Ben Hollands. Series one is still available on BBC Sounds (they can be listened to in any order!) Thanks, much love x

every great story starts small. sometimes it’s a flea biting a rat. sometimes it’s a late-night bar shift at The Yard. here’s The Flea writer @jamestfritz (responsibly) holding a bottle working a bar shift in 2013, and now, him pulling a pint at his press night in 2024 ❤️ swipe for how it began (newsletter subscribers: check your inboxes for the full story, everyone else: blog’s coming next week) ✉️

Today and tomorrow at 2.15pm my two new audio dramas go out on @bbcradio4 and then onto @bbcsounds , directed by the brilliant Tracey Neale. I’ve wanted to write about what’s going on in our prisons for years. I pitched to the BBC a series of stand-alone but interlinked plays that would eventually combine to look at the whole system in the round, piece by piece, person by person. Prisoners, guards, parole, politicians. These first two episodes, Fourteen Years and Forty Minutes focus on two prisoners going through two different crises. Fourteen Years is about a young man (played by wonderful actor and Flea alumnus @connorpaulfinch ) who is stuck on an Imprisonment For Public Protection (IPP) sentence. The IPP scandal is a stain on our legal system, a failure of legislation and beuracracy that has had horrific human repercussions. People left in prison years after their sentences were due to end. Researching this one has been heartbreaking. Forty Minutes (on tomorrow) is about an older prisoner, played with ferocity and poignancy by the great Kenneth Cranham, who is trapped in a system that can’t cope with him. The fight to preserve health, dignity and humanity in the direst of conditions. We have the oldest prison population in Europe. Brilliant support in both episodes comes from my fave @kaceyainsworth , Robert Glenister, Ty Tennant, Carl Prekop and Tracey Wiles. Thanks to to Age Uk, Trapped: The IPP podcast and Simon Hattestone’s work in the Guardian and many more for educating me, and to the people of Brixton Prison and everyone else who talked to me for this project.

Meet Me Outside For The Flea At @theyardtheatre INVITE💌 A funny drama that uncovers the Victorian Cleveland Street scandal of 1889. The play follows how a single flea starts a chain of unfortunate events. Themes such as corruption, power, secrets, political & social issues are explored. The actors did an incredible job portraying the various characters within the play. Each character brought something new. Not a dull moment. This style of theatre is slightly different to what im used to seeing but it was enjoyable to see. 🎟️Tickets From £5 📆End 30th November ⏰Runs For 2 Hours and 10 Minutes (20min interval) ✍🏾Written By @jamestfritz 🎭Acted By @stefanrace @tomazocar @willybliss Breffni Holahan & Aaron Gill 📍Location: The Yard Theatre, Hackney #theflea #thefleatheatre #theyardtheatre #theatre #theatreshow #londontheatre #review #theatrereview #theatresuggestion #meetmeoutsidefor #london #thingstodoinlondon #drama #victorian #cleveland #foryou

We’re back! The Flea returns to @theyardtheatre on Monday and I’m excited. A brilliant new cast, a (hopefully) sharper script and a production that gets more beautiful by the day. Still cheap tickets left across the run if you move fast. Much love, as ever let me know if you’re coming X

The Flea has flung! After literal years of us working on it and two brilliant months of performances we did our show for the last time on Saturday. Still hasn’t sunk in. Thanks to everyone who came along throughout the run, it means the world. Particular shout outs to those of you who came more than once. We’ve all been overwhelmed by the response. What a cast and creative team this one had. Took a play that could easily have been quite dry and turned it into a rollercoaster. I’m a lucky boy and I’m gonna miss you all. And of course biggest thanks to Jay Miller who built it with me right from the beginning, and everyone @theyardtheatre which will forever be my home from home. This one felt super special. The sort of show I dreamt of being a part of when I first started writing. It’s been such a ride. Working in theatre can be the best job. Much love x

Only two more weeks to see The Flea at The Yard! We must finish 2nd Dec and I’m gonna miss it. Particularly this horse. Let me know if you’re coming, and message me if you want a cheeky discount code…

Out now: My first variety pack of plays! This collection of my work from the past decade is now available in bookshops and online. It’s also on sale at The Yard for anyone coming to The Flea. Featuring: Four Minutes Twelve Seconds Ross & Rachel Parliament Square Lava Skyscraper Lullaby and ‘twins’, my favourite short play which was only performed once to a slightly baffled audience. There’s also an introduction that attempts to sum up how I feel about making plays. Cover art ‘The Dog’ by Goya, a peeling poster of which hung above my desk while I wrote three of the plays in this collection. Thanks to everyone at my publishers @nickhernbooks for putting this together, it’s beautiful and I love it.

We opened a play last night. It’s called The Flea and it’s what I’d describe as my first ‘big play’. My writing career has coincided perfectly with the age of austerity. Consciously or not, my work has always matched the spirit of the times. Spare. Economical. Doable on the cheap. With The Flea I lost my mind. It is a twisty-turny story written for a cast of twenty. It shifts in form from kitchen sink to detective drama to royal farce and back again. It has an interval! It is, needless to say, a risk that has absolutely no business being produced right now, when the theatre industry is on its knees financially. All that’s to say @theyardtheatre is a miraculous place that not only developed the play but pushed me to go bigger with it. Which is lunacy. After ten years of writing I finally know how it feels to work on something this big. To learn how to write at scale. That I learnt how to do that in a 107 seat venue shows the bravery and ambition of the place. Last night we opened Jay Miller’s production of The Flea with a company of five actors playing all twenty parts with such clarity and force that I can’t imagine the play being done any other way. I’m so proud of this one. It’s my best, I think. Writers should be given the support to think big, take risks, stretch their legs. It feels great.

Today at 2.15pm on @bbcradio4 , The Test Batter Can't Breathe. The third play in my sporting trilogy for the BBC. I love this beautiful image that @showmethelights made for the @radiotimes review. The play is about cricket and the climate crisis and anxiety and has a gorgeous performance by @danparr91 in his radio debut. Have a listen on BBC Sounds.

Coming soon.... The third in my trilogy of sports dramas for BBC Radio, starring the brilliant @danparr91 The first two, Eight Point Nine Nine and Dear Harry Kane are still up on BBC Sounds.

My newest play The Flea opens at The Yard in October, starring Norah Lopez Holden and directed by the brilliant Jay Miller. This one is a big mad retelling of the Victorian Cleveland Street Scandal with about a billion characters and scenes and an incredible design. Can't wait.