Script West Midlands presents 'TENacity'
Posted on 27th May 2010
WORKSHOPS
Writing Site-Specific Theatre
Saturday 19th June 2010 (10am-5pm)
New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Led by Vanessa Oakes
From telephone boxes to abandoned warehouses, Site-Specific Theatre tests the boundaries of space, setting and audience expectation to explore, excite and entertain. This one-day workshop will look at how stories can emerge from locations and how spaces can affect and alter the meaning of words. It will also explore how a playwright can gain access to ‘alternative’ spaces and what practical issues need to be considered in development and performance.
Vanessa Oakes has worked on a number of site-specific shows and her recent plays include; I Am Active (Red Teapot), The Kindness of Strangers (Warwick Words), Lost in Paradise CV6 (Belgrade Theatre), A Body Moving Through (the estate), Live Like Us (Belgrade Theatre). Current projects include; a monologue for Paines Plough/Belgrade Theatre, dramaturg for The Piano Room (Symphony Hall, Birmingham) and a new play for Theatre in Action (Glasgow).
Cost: £50 (£40 concessions)
Booking: www.scriptonline.net/stage.html
The Moving Bus – Dealing with Exposition
Saturday 26 June 2010 (10am-5pm)
The Drum, Birmingham
Led by Alan Pollock
A writer once described the results of effective exposition as akin to ‘stepping onto a moving bus’. Are we, as writers and theatre artists, too reliant on the goodwill of audiences? Shakespeare and his contemporaries could not count on the undivided attention of theirs. Their approach to engaging the interest of playgoers is direct and practical: messengers arrive, choruses speak, proclamations are uttered and characters tell each other things they would already know… Do contemporary theatre-makers have anything to learn from past approaches? Or should we look to the future – to monologue, narration and new media (digital, audio and visual) – to hit the ground running? A one-day workshop featuring readings, discussions and some entertaining practical exercises.
Alan Pollock is a playwright and dramaturg who is currently under commission at the
Birmingham Rep. He was previously Literary Manager at the Manchester Royal Exchange and has delivered extensive workshops and mentoring schemes for theatre companies.
Cost: £50 (£40 concessions)
Booking: www.scriptonline.net/stage.html
Writing Theatre-in-Education
Saturday 3rd July 2010 (10am-5pm)
Light House, Wolverhampton
Led by Arzhang Pezhman
Theatre-In-Education (TiE) is a growing area of employment for writers. A large number of companies in the UK specialise in developing and producing theatre for schools, building plays around a particular educational topic or debate. This one-day workshop will introduce participants to the fundamentals of writing for young audiences. Through the exploration of both theory and practice in playwriting, it will help participants develop a thorough understanding of writing for commission and writing to a brief. The aim of the workshop is to both develop writing techniques and the individual’s voice but also to consider playwriting as a vocation, specifically in education.
Arzhang Pezhman’s play Bolt-Hole was produced in 2006 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He has also written a play for the Young REP, Tics, which was produced in 2005. Arzhang has also had his work produced by the Royal Court Theatre – Local (2000) and Come Around (2003). In 2003 he was commissioned to write a full-length play Mother’s Day, which was performed by pupils at Wolverhampton Grammar School. He was also Writer-in-Residence at the Soho Theatre in 2006.
Cost: £50 (£40 concessions)
Booking: www.scriptonline.net/stage.html
Developing Ideas for the Stage
Saturday 17th July 2010 (10am-5pm)
Pentabus Theatre, Ludlow
Led by Peter Roberts
Suitable for aspiring playwrights, this one-day workshop will provide an introduction to the fundamentals of creating stories for the theatre. Writers will be able to explore how to structure scenes, develop character and plot and how to write effective dialogue. It will also look at the basic practicalities of putting your work on the stage. An essential toolkit to master the art and craft of playwriting.
Peter Roberts is a Royal Shakespeare Company award-winning writer with credits for stage, television, and radio. Stage plays include Education, Education, and Viking Tales for Derby Playhouse, Flying For Arthur, (Sherman Theatre, Cardiff) and Heart and Stone for New Theatre Works. His play-with-music, A Maid With A Lamp, based on the life of Florence Nightingale, is scheduled for Derby Theatre in May 2010. His adaptation of Sophocles’ Lysistrata is scheduled for production at Derby Theatre in 2011.
Cost: £50 (£40 concessions)
Booking: www.scriptonline.net/stage.html
Community Theatre
Saturday 31st July (10am-5pm)
Friends’ Meeting House, Warwick
Led by Steph Dale
Stephanie Dale is a professional playwright and member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. Her plays have been produced by Soho Theatre, LAMDA, Birmingham Rep, and BBC Radio 4. Dale is a tutor on the Mphil in Playwrighting Studies at Birmingham University and also teaches at BSA, City University.
She is currently working on her new play, Dealing with Dreams, and has been commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre to write a site-specific play around the ruins of Weoley Castle.
Cost: £50 (£40 concessions)
Booking: www.scriptonline.net/stage.html
DEVELOPMENT
Devising for Writers
Sunday 11th July, 10am-5pm (The Drum)
Saturday 14th August, 10am-5pm (The Drum)
Sunday 15th August, 10am-5pm (The Drum)
Led by Alexander Kelly
A three day workshop exploring writing as part of a devising process, that takes place during the making and rehearsing of a performance. The workshop will focus on rule-based text-generating exercises, starting with simple games and discussions, and developing these approaches into material for performance. The workshop will culminate with an informal showing of some of the ideas and material developed over the three days.
Alexander Kelly is Co-Artistic Director of performance company Third Angel with whom he devises, directs, writes, designs and performs. Alex tours with Third Angel’s work throughout the UK and internationally; he has taught at Universities across Britain and at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
To apply for a place, please email Hayley Boulton at info@scriptonline.net you’re your contact details, a short biography and an outline (not more than 2 sides of A4) of why you would like to attend and how the workshop will help you at this stage in your career.
All applicants must be currently living, working or studying in the West Midlands.
NETWORKING
Writer’s Lab: Pitch and Punt
Saturday 12th June 2010 (Pentabus Theatre)
Saturday 24th July 2010 (Heartbreak Productions)
In partnership with Equity Midlands, Script is inviting up to 20 emerging and established writers to bring scenes, extracts or maybe just concepts from current works-in-progress for professional actors to read, improvise and explore. The aim of the day is to provide an informal platform for writers to share ideas and projects, gain feedback, and network with other regional artists. Participants will be introduced to the work currently being developed and created in the region, and encouraged to explore potential collaborations.
To apply for a place, please email Hayley Boulton on info@scriptonline.net with a short biography and an outline of the idea you would like to bring along (giving an indication of length and number of characters).
All applicants must be currently living, working or studying in the West Midlands.
