Filling the Blanks was created as part of an international writing collaboration organised by the Contact Theatre in Manchester, with the Commonwealth Games Cultural festival – which was to be held in Manchester, that year, in mind.

The Contact Theatre selected sixteen youth theatre groups (eight from England and eight international) and pairing the groups off, started a writing process which resulted in a youth theatre festival in Manchester 2002.

Stages Theatre Group was picked to be part of this exchange and we were partnered with a youth theatre group from Scotland, called Sherman. The process began with an exchange of images and questions and answers between the group, which formed the basis for the new plays to be created.

The Stages Theatre Group play was written by five emerging writers from the English and Sinhala Stage.