Alan Spence

Alan Spence was born and brought up in South Bank, Middlesbrough. Having failed the 11+, unlike brother Peter and sister Janice, he took on a range of industrial guises including shipyard welder, maintenance man at South Bank Coke Ovens, student nurse, and tele-sales advertising. He even tried working in a men’s clothes shop, for a whole morning.

After living in London, a return to Teesside saw Alan back at British Steel Corporation, which brought bad news and good news. Firstly, the 1980 steel strike (the subject of Alan’s first play) and redundancy, which then enabled Alan to go to Middlesex Polytechnic and train for a BEd in Drama and History, for which he achieved a 2:2.

Alan spent twenty-five years as an arts practitioner in secondary schools, then he gained an M.A. in Film and Television from London University and even ran his own theatre company, Theatre is Real Life, from 2009 till 2018. He is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and serves on the Theatre Committee.

Alan now has two plays published The BORO's 37mins in 2022 and now Nowt Like This in America (2023) His other plays include My name is Tom due for publication in 2024, Homes and Gardens (2018) Abandoned (2022)