A Kickstarter about all our online lives, told through the life and death of one man.

Since that age of 12, I have wanted to write something good. Trouble is I waited until I was 38 to really get going. 5 years later it is beginning to happen.

I am writing to ask if you would consider helping on a kick my writing career on a bit, by helping me kickstart my play. I've been working on it for 3 years, and even managed to convince the blessed UK Arts Council to invest ￡8,559 pounds. This went to record the play as a 3-part Itunes podcast. It sounds AMAZING. We are trying to raise a final ￡3,000 to build a website to house a digital version of the play and also some money for promotion and distribution. The support you give will support a number of great actors and up and coming actors, some great musicians and sound editors too. I will personally do the marketing plan.

The play is fascinating and tragic. It is about the shooting of PC David Rathband. You may remember he was shot by Raoul Moat in 2010. It was big news at the time. The play freezes that moment and asks through the telling of this story, whether that was the moment we all changed. The play is about all our digital lives and the vapour trails of data that we now leave. I re-create David's story using that data. I don't think a play has done that before. 

I worked for 16 years in the front line of the digital world, I have poured all this experience into a story in that hope that I can give some insight into the questions we are all asking. How real are our social networks? How solid are they? Can they be trusted? What is the difference between like and love? So many questions. 

We have some really good partners already. The band Everything Everything donated a track. CALM - The Campaign Against Living Miserably helped a lot too. The play has been through so many ups and downs. It even went to the head of Radio 4 before being deemed too controversial. Like Relax by Frankie goes to Hollywood!)

We put together a Kickstarter campaign. There are plenty of ways to help big and small. We still have a way to go, but we would love to have more partners to bring an important story to a wider audience.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rathbandplay/pc-david-rathband-a-digital-tragedy

The play will also be on the stage too, but not until mid-2018 and in Newcastle. In the meantime, we think it deserves a wider audience. I will keep you all informed and invite you all to the first night.

Yours as ever

Christopher Hogg