Fred Simpson
Fred Simpson’s first play, centred on the woes of MIQ entrapment may well have set the Cambridge doctor-turned author onto a new path.
‘Stop, Watch’ followed the testy musings of seniors Joan and Henry, locked together as much in a tired marriage as in two weeks’ isolation in an MIQ facility. Their mutual irritation and frequent acerbic sparring leads to an unexpected deeper understanding between them, driven as much by their settling on a common enemy, aka MIQ staff, as their enforced re-evaluation of their relationship.
Fred, a now-retired GP known for his penmanship of poetry and his novels, ‘Ted’s Urn’ and ‘The Sunflower and the Sparrow’, wrote the play after experiencing MIQ with wife Pat in 2020.
That, he quickly advised, had been a far happier experience, with none of the snappiness attributable to Joan and Henry, and with sensible pre-planning to offset cabin fever. Pat busied herself with things she enjoyed while Fred re-read James Joyce’s Ulysses, finding it considerably more entertaining than when he read it as a young man.
“It was after that MIQ experience that I thought of writing the play,” he explained. “The clock was important – hence the title ‘Stop, Watch’ – as it signified the changes Joan and Henry go through.
There were health issues, ageing issues … and many paradoxes, the final one being that the enforced time in MIQ that could so easily have separated them ended up helping resolve their issues.”
The human condition fascinates Fred, and his mastery at revealing it, warts and all, helped make the Saturday night reading a success. The production at the Gaslight Theatre was directed by Karen Carrol and starred Karen along with Sara Young, Mike Cooper and Jo Wadsley. Karen’s daughter Maddie ran lights and sound. An earlier reading in Morrinsville had been equally successful.
An earlier encounter between Sara the patient and Fred the GP resulted in the play being picked up.
“I was so impressed with his manner that I went out and purchased his novels,” said Sara. “I started following his Facebook page and reading his poetry … he shows such an insightful and empathetic understanding of people and their situations. I contacted Fred to say how much I enjoyed his work, and he mentioned having written a play. I said I’d love to read it and see if we could put it on stage.”
“Writing the play was very different for me,” said Fred. “With poetry, it’s a feeling you get … something that triggers a thought and I feel compelled to put it down. With prose, I can guarantee I get something down every time I sit at the computer.
“I found the play much more challenging, in some way because you have to visualise it on stage. I have no background in theatre, but it was very exciting. At least writing a play is slightly more manageable than a novel, in terms of scale, so maybe I’ll do another ….”
