A Piece of My Mind

Ted Forrest is a playwright with a problem — writer's block. When we first meet him — bitter, disillusioned and consumed with envy of Miles Whittier, a younger, more successful playwright — he has retreated to the country in an attempt to stimulate his creative impotence by writing an autobiographical novel. But this proves just as difficult and so he turns it into a play about himself and the process of artistic creation. In a dazzling mosaic of flash-backs, dream sequences and witty theatrical devices, Ted takes us on a tour of his life, from his early struggles in the'swinging sixties, through his years as a successful writer and finally to his disillusionment ini the "aching eighties". Peter Nichols' inventive and thought-provoking play, inspired by his own writer's block, enjoyed a successful West End run with George Cole and Anna Carteret in the leading roles.