ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the reasons for, and process of, producing a play based on notes taken at a patient support group in an English hospice. The play realistically represents the conversations dying patients have with one another. What is particularly missing from stories, films and plays about death is the experience of hearing ordinary people who are dying talking to each other. Writing a play to a very tight brief such as this one is an unusual task, and not without its difficulties. Throughout the process there was considerable tension between the need to make the play reflect the workings and preoccupations of the groups at the hospice and the need to make it work as a piece of dramatic art that could stand up on its own. It was really heartening to receive positive feedback about the play from the actors when they arrived for the rehearsal.
