29 Sep 2023

Kim Crotty: From prisoner to playwright

From Nine To Noon, 10:05 am on 29 September 2023
A man sits in a chair on a stage with his back to the camera. Children surround him in a U-shape on the floor.

'The Smallest Stage', written by Kim Crotty was a feature of the Perth Festival in 2022. Photo: ben yew photography

It was a late night knock on the door that sealed Kim Crotty's fate.

Following a relationship breakdown, Kim - a Western Australian - quit his job at the Salisbury Playhouse and move to Bristol to be closer to his young sons.

But in a desperate bid to make ends meet he ultimately chose a path that upended everyone's lives, with the police bust on his cannabis grow house sending him to prison for two years.

In a cell, separated from his boys Kim was determined to maintain a connection with them and so began a writing project.

The result was 47 short stories delivered to weekly to his sons - Otto and Arlen.

A decade later those stories became the backbone of the play 'The Smallest Stage'. He speaks to Kathryn from his home in Western Australia. 

Headshot / selfie of white middle aged man.

Kim Crotty is a Western Australian writer who turned his time in prison into a play: 'The Smallest Stage' Photo: Supplied