Judge becomes an online playwright

When a sitting judge becomes an online playwright it must be a first. What more might he do when he retires?!

The UK family court judge, Stephen Wildblood, has written several plays highlighting the dilemmas and difficulties faced in the family courts of the world, where life-changing, and often heart-rending, decisions are made every day.

In June 2020, while many people around the world were in lockdown due to COVID-19, he launched an online version of his play “Daisy through the looking glass”.

The looking-glass and the electrifying post-script

Unlike a theatre performance, online means we can stream the recording at any time. Unlike real life, the “looking-glass” can reverse time for us. A future Daisy tells of the harm done to her and the play ends with her parents’ first meeting.

When a judge becomes an online playwright – and courts were also Zoomed during lockdown – the actors still stayed online and in role after the play. The cast responded to audience questions as they do onstage when the plays are held in a real theatre.

That “post-script” with the audience was not recorded. Only those there know just how electrifying the unscripted drama can get when the lights go on.

All the world’s a stage. Family courts and theatres heighten life’s dramas. The audience learns and asks fresh questions where silence is ever the rule.

Dramatic solutions take longer to produce than plays. A remarkable family court judge can bring us the drama. And they need others to compose a better world.