May 23, 2019 11.49 am This story is over 64 months old

Streets to sheets: Lincoln homeless man writes controversial play

Marcus has turned his life around and hopes to make his daughter proud
Marcus Arnold has written his own play.

A homeless man, who has been living on the streets of Lincoln, has written a controversial play about addiction.

Marcus Arnold, 48, walked out of his family home with only the clothes on his back after his relationship broke down.

He said it was like falling into a black hole when he started smoking mamba to ‘try and pass the time’, but Marcus has now “escaped to the light.”

He has written and directed a play about his journey, and hopes that it will make his six-year-old daughter proud.

‘On the Streets of Lincoln’ follows the journey of a compassionate woman who finds herself homeless in the city.

She is quickly confronted by drugs and people from all walks of life who want to take advantage of her situation.

Mansions of the Future is hosting the play on Tuesday, June 18. The first performance is at 1.30pm and the second starts at 6pm.

Tickets are free for the event and can be found here. They are taking donations to go towards funding a soup kitchen.

Refreshments will be provided during the matinee performance and a light buffet will be catered by the residents of the YMCA to coincide with the evening performance.

They have been rehearsing every Thursday for the past couple of months.

“We still live in a society of winners and losers,” Marcus told The Lincolnite. “I felt like when I was homeless that I was the ultimate loser.

“I hope that my play can open up conversations about homelessness. I hope that people will realise that we are all human beings.

“Anyone who takes drugs is calling for help. People who take mamba are demonised but I think that alcohol is a very similar evil.

“The play was quite easy to write because I had a lot of inspiration from good people on the streets, but it’s been hard pinning people down to perform it.

“We’ve had a few people drop out here and there because it’s about drugs and they say it’s controversial, but we need to have these conversations to move forward.”

Marcus has turned his life around over the past few months and has started taking courses at Lincoln College to improve his creative writing skills.

One day he hopes to study psychology and become a counsellor, so he can guide homeless people through the right paths and off the streets.