Award-winning playwright Nick Payne, has amazed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Here he shares the sociable side of his nature with a dinner party full of ‘big’ characters.
I think the venue would probably be my flat. It would be weird to invite people round for dinner and then not invite them to your home (wouldn’t it?). I’m a vegetarian and would probably cook. I would either cook lots of little nibbly things that people can pick at and chomp on all night, or we’d order a takeaway – a curry for instance. That way everyone can choose what they want (meat-eaters can eat meat, vegetarians can eat veggies, so on). Either way, there would be lots of booze, wine, beer etc. – I’m a big real ale fan. For dessert: chocolate, in all its forms – cake, pudding, buttons, milkshake, fondant, the lot.
In terms of guests…first and foremost I would like my wife, Minna, to be there. Our flat is small and it would be weird to ask her to leave for a night while I host a dinner party. Plus: she’s much more talkative and interesting than I am!
I’d like to invite Guy Garvey, lyricist and lead singer from the band Elbow. I’m a big fan of theirs, have been for years. It seems like Guy likes a drink and is very sociable. I think he’d keep the conversation going if it dried up or got awkward. And maybe, later on in the evening, when/if we’re all drunk, Guy could sing a few songs.
I’d invite George Devine (deceased, alas). He founded the English Stage Company in the mid-1950s and acquired the Royal Court Theatre not long after. I love the Royal Court Theatre dearly. Constellations was originally commissioned by the Royal Court (and they are now, of course, responsible for the tour). I have an irrational fondness and admiration for the building and everyone working there. But my knowledge of its history is sadly lacking, so I’d love to grill George Devine about all that.
The poet Sharon Olds would be my next guest. I don’t read a lot of poetry, sadly. I don’t read a lot of poetry sadly, but Sharon’s collection The Father is one of my favourites. The poems are by-and-large about Sharon caring for her father in the run up to his death. I read it not long after my own father died, and found its specificity and compassion unbearably moving.
Next up: novelist Kurt Vonnegut (deceased). I love his novels. Indeed so bold and irreverent are they that I’m not sure the term ‘novel’ does them justice. Timequake, for instance, is a mix (I think) of autobiography, non-fiction and fiction. Slaughterhouse-Five is also wonderful. I think, hope, he would add a touch of eccentricity to the evening.
Then I’d invite Fiona Apple. Her first album Tidal is one of my favourites. She is a brilliant lyricist. I’m sorry to say I’ve never seen her play live, so – again, after a few beers – perhaps I’d be able to convince her to play a few songs.
Incidentally, I was hoping to invite director Paul Thomas Anderson. But, according to the Internet, Apple and Anderson are exes. Sadly, then, I probably wouldn’t invite Anderson after all. But maybe we’d all watch ‘Boogie Nights’ after dinner.
I’d quite like to invite moral philosopher John Gray. I adore his writing (even if I don’t always understand it). I think he’d be a good person to have around during the early sober bit of the evening. I’d love to listen to him talk.
There are lots of others that would be on my invite list…Daniel Day-Lewis as ‘Bill the Butcher’ (he would take care of any carving duties), Caryl Churchill, Matthew Weiner, Laura Linney, Michel Roux Jr. …but if I had to choose one more person, it would be…my dad because he was a lovely bloke, and I miss him, and he was big into his real ale too.
Nick is a playwright
who won the prestigious George Devine Award in 2009 with his play If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet. Nick studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of York, making his debut at the Royal Court theatre in September 2010 with his comedy Wanderlust.
In January 2012, Nick’s play Constellations opened at the Royal Court Upstairs starring Rafe Spall and Sally Hawkins and directed by Michael Longhurst. Constellations transferred to the West End in November 2012 where it won the Evening Standard Best Play Award and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play.
Nick is currently under commission at Paines Plough, the Royal Court and Manhattan Theatre Club/Alfred P Sloan Foundation writing a new play about Nobel prize-winning mathematician, Paul Dirac, as well as being playwright in residence at the Donmar Warehouse. He is currently adapting Julian Barnes’s The Sense Of An Ending for BBC Films.