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Writers

An official National Theatre Wales group

Writers who want to be part of National Theatre Wales, share ideas, get feedback from each other, and hear about opportunities

Members: 481
Latest Activity: Jan 30, 2023

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Discussion Forum

Looking for Welsh Playwrights for Scratch Night in London.

Started by CHIPPY LANE PRODUCTIONS LTD. Aug 7, 2016.

Collaborators Needed! 2 Replies

Started by Camille Naylor. Last reply by sean donovan Dec 1, 2015.

Looking for a writer to collaborate on an idea. 2 Replies

Started by Caley Powell. Last reply by Catrin Fflur Huws Mar 3, 2015.

NTW Dramaturgy Project - Beginnings

Started by Richard Hurford Oct 20, 2014.

ONiiiT: The Power of Words

Started by Sophie Chei Hickson Aug 21, 2014.

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Comment by Tim Price on February 20, 2014 at 10:08

Perhaps it wasn't framed so bluntly last night Carmen!

There was a meeting last night to discuss new writing in Wales and to see what the general feeling was about an artist-led solution to some of the problems.

The Sherman is facing a huge challenge in turning around it's fortunes, and one of the uncomfortable rationalisations that appears to be on the cards is the mothballing of the literary department until further notice.

So Wales is faced with being a nation without a single person in the subsidised theatre sector, paid to read plays, and meet playwrights. We're also facing the prospect of Clwyd not replacing their new writing director. So new writing seems to be feeling the brunt of cuts in Wales. This might be because of a wider cultural undervaluing of playwrights in Wales, evidenced by the fact there isn't a single playwright on any board in any theatre in Wales. Were that not the case, I'm not sure how easily these cuts to new writing would happen.

So, rather than sitting back and moaning about it, we had a meeting to if we can come up with an artist-led solution to this problem. and if there was playwright-centred agency or studio, that could provide some of the services that the Sherman literary department used to, as a separate body. Such as script reading, playwright training, readings and development. 

The risk is, even if the Sherman's fortunes turn around and they hire a literary department, there's nothing to say the next Artistic Director will decide new writing is surplus to requirement and terminate the post. 

There is too little strategic oversight of new writing in Wales. And a body dedicated to new writing, just as the poets and novelists have Literature Wales, could defend playwrights rights, advocate for new Welsh work at home and abroad, and provide the pastoral care that playwrights need to flourish.

There is a private group on here called PSW. If anyone would to become part of the conversation about this kind of body, drop me a message and I'll invite you in. 

  

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on February 20, 2014 at 7:40

nobody taking ownership...funding...maybe someone from the meeting last night - Tim can you explain better please?

Comment by Jaye L Swift on February 20, 2014 at 7:12

And the reason it's in a mess is because...?

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on February 20, 2014 at 7:00

so the main thing from last nights meeting is that 'new writing in wales will be in a mess for the next 5 - 10 years unless we do something about it' it is felt by some writers its been in a mess since at least 1998....some may say even before..

Comment by Mick Greenway on February 20, 2014 at 2:11

More director than playwright, for several years I directed writers' final shows on the MA in Playwriting at the University of Birmingham.

There would be involvement with the playwright for maybe a month before the final draft was ready. I think that the work I was doing then - quite often real nuts and bolts stuff - was very much the work of a dramaturg. That said, it did not differ greatly from what I (or most directors who don't see every production as an opportunity to glorify themselves) engage in with the writer of any new play although given that these were mostly emerging playwrights it was sometimes a bit more fundamental.

Is this not the stuff of dramaturgy? Perhaps they tend to get involved at even earlier stage. 

Comment by Rowena Louise Bernice Scurlock on February 19, 2014 at 22:24
Thank you jonah
Comment by Jonah Jones on February 19, 2014 at 22:21

Big thanks to Rowena Scurlock of Leftfield Theatre for organising a great evening at the Hwdihw last night.  The seven deadly sins were there in abundance.  We who were there want more!

Comment by Simon Coates on February 19, 2014 at 21:26

In other news - 

WALESLAB - SUMMERCAMP 2014 - APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

We're now taking applications for this year's Summercamp which will take place between 21st Jul - 1st Aug. There's more info on my blog and the website.

Go on, give it a go. Deadline - 14th March, 12 noon.

Also open to dramaturgs!!

Comment by Simon Coates on February 19, 2014 at 21:25

I totally agree with a lot of what Matt and and Richard have both been saying here, and sorry for coming tot he conversation a little late.

My experience of a Dramaturg has always been about someone who is able to come into a process and literally talk back what they see, felt, were reminded of; what they can read from the work. In doing so contributing, interrogating and questioning the dramatic and narrative structures of the work. This always made sense to me coming from a background where the words often came second, third or sometimes never in the process but where we were still very much concerned with telling stories. For me, that's where a dramaturg is worth their weight in gold.

I also found it most enlightening when they came from a different background because i wasn't a mentor, i was looking for, it was absolutely a dramaturg.

My collective noun would be a "proclamation of dramaturgs"

Comment by meredydd barker on February 19, 2014 at 12:06
There's a lot to be said for working in another discipline within theatre. I'm a better writer for having directed youth theatre for three years. It shortens the time in the drawer a script needs before I can see the words for what they are. I certainly believe that I write with an extra sensibility now. I can dramaturg myself in a way that I couldn't before. The question: does this/will this work? has greater import and urgency and the answer greater clarity. Furthermore, it's no surprise that more than a few Welsh actors have been writing outstanding plays in recent years.
 

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