I’ve been deep in the word-mines with my long-time partners in theatrical crime: director and co-writer, Justin Lewis, and dramaturge, Murray Edmond. Together we’ve wrestled, wrangled, and occasionally wooed the third draft of Indian Ink’s latest play, Kabuliwala, into being.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the dark art of script development, here’s how it goes:

First Draft: This is where the wild things are. It’s chaotic, brave, and often baffling. Characters wander in uninvited, scenes take sharp left turns, and there’s always one monologue that ends with “something something… you get the idea.”

Second Draft: Now we get clever. Structure! Arcs! Theme! The play puts on a sensible pair of trousers. But somehow, in all that tidying up, the magic rabbit we pulled out of the hat in draft one goes missing – only to be replaced by rabbit holes.

Third Draft: Ah. This is the sweet spot. Order meets mischief. The trousers stay on, but the rabbit is back in the hat. Still twitchy but responding well to notes.

Of course, the process isn’t linear. It’s more like untangling fairy lights with your eyes closed. But every knot we unravel brings us closer to something true.

Onwards!