Alan Spence is a playwright, director and workshop leader. After teaching for over 20 years, Alan’s passion for the arts and desire to put in to practise his own ideas and philosophies, that lead him to form his own company; Theatre is real life.

Alan has learnt from leading practitioners at The Royal Court through Rehearsing New Writing and a Teacher Development Week at the Royal National Theatre, in developing his directorial style. As a writer he has been influenced by Alan Bennett, Caryl Churchill, David Hare and Arthur Miller, as well as a number of newer writers such as Simon Stephens, Fin Kennedy, Nick Payne and  Stef Smith.

Alan was a Trustee of Face Front Inclusive Theatre in Edmonton, North London from 2009 – 2017. Alan was accepted on to the WEA Tutor list in July 2017, and he joined the Theatre Committee of the WGGB in Dec 2018. Alan  recently completed a new play Abandoned (2019). Alan was accepted into the Working Class Writers Collective in 2019 organised by New Writing South.

Theatre is real life productions was set up in January 2009 and ran till December 2017, working with schools and the wider community to celebrate the lives of everyday people. Productions include Nowt like this in America (2009), The Boro’s 37 mins ( 2011) and My Name is Tom (2016). Other plays include Homes and Gardens (2018) and Abandoned (2021).

Alan closed the company in 2018 and this website now follows Alan’s writing and related activities.