Ahead of his performance of James Rowland Dies at the End of the Show we thought it would be good to ask some questions of the acclaimed playwright in case we don't have the opportunity following the performance!

Tell us a little about yourself (as a writer and performer)

Hello, I’m James and I wrote and perform solo theatre shows. I’ve been doing it since 2015 and have performed somewhere between 700-1000 shows since then (it’s hard to keep track).

I try and make work that is joyful and funny while also examining the difficult matter of life.

Where might Farnham Maltings audiences recognise you from (you’ve previously toured here with Learning to Fly and 100 Different Words for Love and Team Viking if that helps!)

I believe I’ve been to Farnham Maltings at least three times before and it’ll be wonderful to be back. Once the snow was so bad we almost didn’t make it but in the end had time to make some nice sculptures outside of the theatre.

This show is the final part of a trilogy of pieces you have written, performed and toured. Why did you decide to tell your story across 3 shows?

I think the shows all stand alone as individual work but making in threes is a useful way of creating work, a beginning a middle and an end as it were.

Do audiences need to have seen either of the first two productions to make sense of this new show or do you have a short summary to bring audiences up to speed?

Ha! As I say I don’t think that’s necessary but in terms of this show it is not about the grief or pain of loss (I have made plenty of work about that in the past) but rather, the joy of being alive and the hopeful prism that mortality puts on our lives.

How do you find the experience of touring a production differs from presenting it at a festival?

To begin with I have to make sure I get home (I have been known to stay talking to audience members for so long post show that I’ve missed my train. The process of performing a show tends to be very similar but I love the opportunity to see more of the world and bring the stories anywhere they are wanted.

Having finished this trilogy of work, what have you got planned next?

Touring! There are many places left to go to with these shows and possibly some of the older ones too. Having a bit of time not directly driving towards a new show is always useful in terms of refreshing my view on the world and the small corners of it where I make work.