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Comment by John McGrath on July 20, 2010 at 3:17pm

Here's some news of a great course at Ty Newydd, the National Writers Centre, led by two of Wales's finest theatre practitioners:
Drama - Gilly Adams and Charles Way.pdfDrama: Gilly Adams and Charles Way

Comment by Bethan Marlow on July 19, 2010 at 1:57pm

Fancy a new challenge. There a surprise prize!

http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/challenge-4-this-ones-easy

Comment by Carl Morris on July 12, 2010 at 10:32am

Hello writers! Just alerting you to the fact we have a new game-writing challenge on the group for The Beach set by Rhiannon Cousins.

Have a look and see if it's your bag. While I'm on it, my challenge from last week Finger In Pi is still open for entries.

Do both if you want. Have fun.

Comment by Katherine Chandler on July 10, 2010 at 7:58pm

Have just been reading todays papers and laughed at the article 'Thanks but no thanks' about rejection letters. It includes letters like, Museum of Modern Arts rejection to Andy Warhol, Warner Brothers uncertainty of Casablanca, Hendrix getting dismissed from the army and a great publishers rejection of Gertrude Stein. If you haven't read it, I've posted the link underneath.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/10/jimi-hendrix-andy-warhol-rejection-letters

Comment by Leona Jones on July 7, 2010 at 8:39pm

I was lucky enough to be there too, and felt galvanised into action by the end of the evening. But I appreciate the frustrations of those not able to reach Cardiff easily having been born and brought up in not-Cardiff Wales. It's not easy or cheap or quick to move around much of Wales, and there have been grumbles about how Cardiff dominates and/or doesn't relate to the rest of the country for many many years. However, we now have access to more communication methods than ever before. The evening was basically a conversational one, very relaxed, informative and friendly. No audio/visual presentations, games, going off into small groups and discussing etc. Would it be possible for events like this to be linked via webcam/skype so people who can't get to the venue could still participate in some way? I've no idea how it works, but a link-up was managed for the opening announcements way back when. I know it's not the same as face-to-face but might ease the frustration of feeling something's been missed, especially if there was some way of feeding in questions or comments.

Comment by Kevin Johnson on July 7, 2010 at 12:29pm

I was one of the attendees at the Paines Plough workshops, which were very interesting, as was meeting & listening to other writers and realising that I was not alone in being passionate about theatre. Most were from Cardiff or it's environs but for the record I'm from Port Talbot & travelled in that day from my work in Swansea. It was easier for me as my workplace has flexi-time, without which I couldn't have made it. Another writer had a two-hour train journey from the Hereford border area, as such he couldn't stay for the second workshop, so Meredydd's point is well-taken. Anyone from North Wales would have had to stay overnight, and times are hard.

Unfortunately Cardiff is the capital and this has the same result for Wales as London does for England, everything is centralised. The difference being that England has a large population in the North that can support theatre, with good communication links. We in Wales don't. It was only relatively recently that there was even a regular train service between north & south.

The Nat Theatre Scotland has solved this problem, as I believe Nat Theatre Wales is doing, by dispensing with a central theatre & touring venues all over the country instead. This is a key factor, I believe, in helping unify the country's talents.

Yesterday I went to the Welsh Assembly on an organised trip, and two things struck me. First, what an excellent place to set a play, no massive scenery changes and plenty of discussion on important matters. Second, one of the questions the First Minister was asked was if Labour's policy for locating departments and investment was still "ABC - Anywhere But Cardiff".

Seems this matter is discussed not just here but at the highest levels.

His reply by the way was that Cardiff has done very well out of investment, the Bay, Millennium Centre, Stadium, St David's 2, etc, that perhaps it's time for other parts of Wales to recieve investment. So it seems there is hope after all.

But let's not forget that we've got Theatre Mold up in the north, and for many years they've been flying the flag for Welsh theatre and doing it well. What we need to do is develop closer links between North, West, Mid and South Wales, and I think right here is a good start.

Comment by Brad Birch on July 7, 2010 at 11:55am

I agree wholeheartedly, Meredydd.

Being from Mid Wales, we very seldom get discussed as being part of the artistic tapestry of Wales. The scalpel with which the Arts Council used to decimated the area last week is testament to that. As of next year theatre will come as close as 30 miles to where I live. Some friends having to cross the border to get to the nearest venue.

An impossible task, of course, for any company to try and reach a whole country in the time with which they've given themselves. And what with Mid Wales being an area where the Corn Laws are still more relevant than the Data Protection Act, I can see why these companies don't really try and creep up to us.

Would be nice if we were acknowledged as being there, sometimes, if only in the honesty of the companies saying that they find it not in their interest to come to us.

Cardiff is a wonderful place and I love working there and will, of course, keep going there for as long as I'm welcome. But yes, Meredydd, you're certainly not alone in thinking as you do.

Comment by meredydd barker on July 7, 2010 at 10:37am

I'm glad the event went well. I'm glad that everyone seems to have been inspired by the chats and the performance.

But.

I'm not privvy to whether the attendees were exclusively from the Cardiff district or not. Some may well have flown in from Anglesey. Good luck to you if you did. But it seems to me that this was a Cardiff event for Cardiff writers for the simple reason that it was held on a Wednesday. Cardiff isn't Wales. Not on a Wednesday. If you live, as I do, to the west of Swansea then it's very difficult to get to Cardiff in time for anything during the week especially if you have daytime obligations that you take seriously such as teaching. Take the day off? Can't afford it. Who can? Move to Cardiff? Call me naive but I think it's possible to make a meaningful contribution to Welsh theatre without living in the capital. I understand that Paines Plough have an itinerary, Wednesday suited them best etc. I have no problem with that. But I do have a problem with even the slightest suggestion that Cardiff and Wales are somehow synonymous and that Paines Plough may have walked away with that idea along with the impression that they'd encountered the best of Welsh writing. In saying this I'm not making great claims for myself - too battered and bruised for that - nor am I decrying the talents of the writers who were there. But I am stating what an underestimated amount of people outside of the capital feel, playwrights or no. If allowed, metrocentricity, no matter how tacit, can be as ugly and self defeating as nationalism. Especially on a Wednesday.

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on July 6, 2010 at 7:56pm

There must have been something in the air that night because I too have started to write after a couple of 'dry' months.

Comment by Tom Wentworth on July 6, 2010 at 7:49pm

I also attended the workshop and the performance both of which I found to be hugely inspiring. I have already 'got to end' of my newest piece.

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