Neil Coppen works as an actor, writer, director and designer in Durban, South Africa. His collaborations include works with visual artists, writers, community groups, sound designers, film- makers, authors, animators, choreographers and musicians.

  His first play Suicidal Pigeons, premiered at the Red Eye Art exhibition in 2005 and in 2007 he completed seasons of two acclaimed new works: Two …The Beginning of the End (co -written and performed alongside Clare Mortimer) as well as the multi-award winning Tin Bucket Drum (directed by Karen Logan) which has toured extensively throughout the country and in 2011 will visit New York as part of the Ibewu theatre festival.

Neil’s latest work Tree Boy, which he wrote and designed (directed by Libby Allen) saw him initiating a  three-year creative process alongside a team of actors, animators, editors and musicians, in an attempt to blur the boundaries between live performance and film.

 Tree Boy won the Durban Theatre Award for best new South African Script (2009) and has recently returned from a sell-out seasons at the Grahamstown Main Theatre Program and Hilton Theatre festival. 2011 Neil is the 2011 recipient of the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama. His latest work Abnormal Loads will premiere at the Grahamstown Festival next year.

The following blog is collection of his daily thoughts, newspaper columns, articles, short stories and musings.