It’s a bit terrifying making a play about Charles Darwin. We’re in to April and just about everyone from the Archbishop of Canterbury to Stewart Lee has already had their say about him. I’m lucky enough to work for the BBC so I have access to the archived programmes across radio and TV. I’ve listened to and watched many people’s thoughts on the biology, the religious implications, the ethics, the geology, the impact on literature, the creation on Scientology. I made that last bit up. But you name it, there’s a programme about it. Thankfully, though, no one else seems to have embarked on a entertaining familial re-imagining of his youth with actors, puppets and beautiful projections. And chickens. It’s also a comedy. Or at least we hope it will be. There haven’t been that many Darwin comedies. There might be a gap in the market. Or it may be that everyone else in the world has had the good sense to stay away. Except me, John and Orla.

Not very coherent but these are my thoughts as we approach the end of the second draft of a play that has come to known as Origins. The first draft was a mess so we’re hoping this one might be a bit better. Or at least less of a mess. But just wait for the third draft, that’ll be excellent. And as for the fourth….well we’ll come to that when we come to it. For now, I’m going to go to back to reading everything and then ignore it in favour of a couple of jokes.

Steven Canny