Howard Brenton, playwright " portrait of the artist
'Playwrights are no wiser than anyone else " but people start asking you about the economy'What first drew you to writing plays?I wrote my first, based on a story I took from a comic, when I was 11. I was copying my father, who was a keen amateur-dramatic director and producer. But I'd always loved the theatre " I saw the comic Arthur Askey in panto when I was about six. I was mesmerised.What was your …