Born in West London, Anna Jordan trained as an actor at LAMDA. Later realising her passion for playwriting and director. In 2013 her play Yen won her the Bruntwood Prize for playwriting. Since then, Anna’s writing goes from strength to strength. We very lucky to have her play POP MUSIC come to HOME Nightclub Friday 16 November.

What is POP MUSIC about?

The provocation that I came up with for the play is that pop music makes promises it can’t keep. The two characters, who are in their mid-30s and share a huge love of pop, were made huge promises by their favourite artists in the 80s and 90s that were just not true.

You previewed the show at Latitude Festival early this year, how did it go?

Yes, we did a preview at Latitude festival in July, I was eight months pregnant when they all went off to the festival, which I thought I probably shouldn’t do.  The feedback was great people were talking about how feelgood and uplifting it is. I suppose the positivity comes from the fact that pop music also has the power to bring people together.

What sort of songs can we expect to here?

I’ve been building up a Spotify playlist for Pop Music which is actually now available for people coming to watch the show. Two of the most important songs to me in the play are “All About Tonight” by Pixie Lott and “Symphony” by Clean Bandit. But we’ve got Madonna, “Come On Eileen”, Britpop classics.

We’ll be listening to that playlist non-stop. The show is also BSL interpreted as well, is that right?

Yes, it was something James said he wanted from the beginning: a signer onstage. I was a bit nervous about it because it is a two-hander and your director is saying that there’s going to be three people onstage. But it’s worked out so well. Ciaran Alexander Stewart signs the whole thing, at Latitude they called Ciaran a one-man Greek chorus, which is brilliant, because he joins in the action. It’s so exciting that a play about sound is made accessible for a D\deaf audience.

You write for TV aswell, how does that differ from writing for the stage?

It’s so different. I’ve just been in the writer’s room for HBO’s Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, who wrote Peep Show and Fresh Meat and it’s been a whirlwind. In theatre, you’re left in a room to make what you want to make. But with TV there’s no time for that, so you’re always showing your work. I feel like theatre will always be my first love, but it’s nice to think that I can tell stories in different mediums.

To find out more about POP MUSIC click here