Here I Belong

Matt Hartley's moving, funny and charming play, Here I Belong, takes you through decades of history seen through the eyes of one village resident.

It’s Elsie’s ninetieth birthday. Come and join us in the village hall to celebrate. There will be cake.

Elsie has lived in the village for sixty years. She has seen elections, weddings, wars, people coming, people going. The village is where her daughter grew up, it’s where her husband died and it’s where she’s going to stay. 
 
Travel through time from 1953 to the present day in this play about village life and the right to grow old in your own home.
 
First produced on a UK tour by Pentabus Theatre Company in 2016, performed by two women, Here I Belong provides ideal material for amateur companies for up to eight female performers – especially those performing in their own village halls.

This volume also includes Matt Hartley's short monologue play, Last Letters Home.

Matt Hartley grew up in the Peak District and studied drama at the University of Hull. His first play Sixty Five Miles won a Bruntwood Award in the inaugural Bruntwood Competition and was produced by Paines Plough/Hull Truck in 2012. Other work for theatre includes: Here I Belong (Pentabus Theatre tour, 2016); Deposit (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 2015); Microcosm (Soho Theatre, 2014); Horizon (National Theatre Connections, 2014); The Bee (Edinburgh Festival, 2008); Punch (Hampstead/Heat and Light Company); and Epic, Trolls and Life for Beginners (all at Theatre503, London).

He has written for TV's Hollyoaks and his radio plays include The Pursuit and Final Call.