Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Louise Osborn on June 22, 2009 at 7:03

Here's a few thoughts/ muses... (not really what the policy should say though....)

Writers placed in schools across the different age-group sectors - working on a collective theme; that then gets woven into some kind of performance tapestry... (Also a way to source new writing talent - particularly in a drive to find potential writers from different ethnic backgrounds - which should form part of policy...)
How to create a theatre that invites everyone to participate...?

Attaching writers to established Youth Theatre/community projects - creating truly 'reflective' work from the bottom up through workshop and exploration.

Some kind of 'mentoring' scheme - pairing up writers from different levels of experience - creating a piece together

Writers resident in communities ... excavation

Creating opportunities for established writers who have become identified with a particular field or genre to push the boundaries...find new voice...

Placing writers in particular 'working' contexts for a period - for example: on a particular farm in rural Wales, on a lighthouse, on a fishing boat, in a city corner shop, in a school playground, in a factory, fairground, bakery, in a tourist info. centre, rugby team, in a slaughterhouse....(nice!) etc - then creating/evolving material into a collage of work..

Pairing a writer with an artist(s) from another artistic medium - visual/dance/film/music/sculpture

Setting writers TASKS that inspire them, and invite them to look at their work and the world through a different lens... (often interesting limitations or restrictions can be really inspirational - and time limits...)

How to free up the writers mind? A group of writers making individual response to a given stimulus? or question? or provocation?

Playing.... A writer creates a character .... who then meets the character creations of other writers.

Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on June 22, 2009 at 7:36

Thanks Louise. Lots of great ideas here. And while some of them are more specific projects than policy, they are still very useful as the challenge is to develop a policy that generates innovative approaches such as those you mention.

Permalink Reply by Tim Price on June 25, 2009 at 6:08

Hi John. I'm sorry, but I don't agree with your premise and we're going to have our first public spat (normally it's a screaming match outside Revolution at 1am isn't it?)

I'm not Sherman bashing here by any means, but I'd say their script reading and play development programmes are unproven. It's still a very young organisation and is finding it's feet, and I can't help the feeling that you're side-stepping the issue by saying the Sherman are doing a great job, so no-one else needs to share the burden.

I understand why you and NTW don't want to concern yourself with playwright development and script reading as NTW. It is costly and has a very low success-rate. But I have to say, hardly any organisation in Wales ever wants to pick up this ball and I'd suggest it's this reason there's such a dearth of talent compared to the Scots and Irish.

I think it's one of your responsibilities, to address the huge gap there is between the many writers writing, and the very very few writers being produced. To leave that problem at the door of the Sherman feels like a bit of an abdication on your part.

In the short-term I absolutely understand that NTW already has very pressing concerns like producing great shows and securing the organisation's future plus all the other shit that I can't even imagine you have to deal with on a day to day basis. But I urge you to re-consider what you believe NTW's responsibilities are, because there are already plenty of organisations and artistic directors in Wales who have no interest in developing emerging writing talent and it would be a real pisser if NTW was one as well.
Suggestions? I don't know...how about something like this:

Short-term, of course ignore emerging talent and just get the big guns to make the big shows brilliant. Mid-term, start a playwright development programme, a group of writers attached to the NTW for a year, writing plays to your creative direction. Long-term, start producing studio-based script-in-hand shows for the growing group of post-attached playwrights known to NTW. Long-long-term, start commissioning these writers. Wales will have a surge of writing talent getting commissioned and produced everywhere. It would be such a shame for the hordes of emerging writers out there to not be able to tap into the NTW talent-base.

Permalink Reply by Simon Harris on June 25, 2009 at 10:15

I really want to applaud Tim for making this comment. It has been on my mind, particularly since this group was created and John left his introduction. Unfortunately, I am so busy with writing commitments that the thought of adding more words to the virtual space inhibited me. I don’t want to write at length, but – as you can imagine – I have a great deal I would like to say on this subject, so I will try and restrict myself to a few comments.

Firstly, Tim is absolutely right when he says that the alternative new writing structures outside of NTW are still “unproven.” I would say that the longstanding frustration that writers in Wales have had is that there is simply not enough diversity available in the production of new writing and that there has been a hegemony of taste that works against certain writers. At Sgript Cymru, I tried to be catholic and create as big a tent as I could for writers, but, of course, there are always writers that you don’t appreciate as much as others. I always felt that there were insufficient alternatives for those writers to see their work produced.

Secondly, the NTW has made an amazingly positive start in setting an inclusive tone that makes people who have previously felt disempowered, undervalued and disenchanted feel that they have a chance to make work with the company or contribute in some way. Many people will be delighted to see NTW driving forward work that is, in its broadest sense, theatrical as opposed to being essentially dramatic and literary in its approach. I am one of those people and it is so exciting to hope that NTW will offer that work the resource and platform that is its due.

However, I am concerned at a kind of shallow orthodoxy that is gaining ground in the UK. The argument seems to be that because “a play” is conceived through a particular process, that it is inherently regressive, conservative or invalid. I do not think that the contemplation of such a product as an audience member is necessarily passive or uninteresting either. Listening, reflecting and feeling are all active responses that do not necessarily imply a moral failing. Therefore, it would be a travesty to me at least, if it also meant that playwrights, who have for so long suffered in the grip of a canonical and out-dated theatrical culture, should become pariahs because of their interest in doing things like “writing a piece of theatre on their own.”

The point I am trying to make (and perhaps failing) is that the NTW offers to me a genuinely hopeful possibility of a wide-ranging theatre, which is diverse and inclusive in its approach. I understand the reason not to want to revive dusty old dramas from the past and also to have a contemporary relationship with the classics, but I would be very sorry indeed if it meant that playwrights were unable to discover/explore their aesthetic without the opportunity to write plays.

In terms of policy, there is a lot more to say than I have time for here, but there are alternatives to the Literary Department model. You have already talked about mentors and dramaturgs being employed for specific projects and working with writers in a less bureaucratic way. I could see that happening. I could also see benefit in a dedicated new writing producer/associate within the company (I understood Catherine to have this kind of responsibility initially). Of course, writers need to be exposed to working in different ways and with different forms, but writers also need patient support and long-term encouragement to find their own voices. In my view, the single thing that has betrayed generations of playwrights in Wales and prevented them from finding a vibrant voice is the fragmented nature of the support available. NTW should be offering that kind of support.

Permalink Reply by Kaite O'Reilly on June 25, 2009 at 14:55

I find this fascinating, and appreciate the passion and insight Tim and Simon are bringing to their posts – and the invitation to participate from NTW in the first place. I’m also delighted we have a forum to discuss this openly and without rancour within (though I have to say hissy fits outside Revolution might be entertaining...).

As a general query, unconnected to the discussion so far, in order to really debate and engage about this, do we need a clarity, a shared vocabulary and understanding of what we may mean when we talk about developing new theatre writing? After all, one person’s ‘play’ might be another’s ‘writing for live performance’ – or a host of other terms currently in use. For years I’ve been at symposia and events (predominantly in England) where what I view as an artificial schism appears between different factions connected to ‘text’. It has been at times divisive – and on a few lively occasions, almost come to blows - yet once we get down to the meat of it, often we are doing very similar things. Like most writers, I use many different processes for a variety of projects – sometimes working alone on a script, sometimes collaborating or co-creating, and sometimes when using theatricalised British Sign Language, there is no ‘written’ text, rather a physical, corporeal score – yet I still identify as a ‘playwright’, for the dramaturgical processes and understanding I bring is the same as when sitting alone writing dialogue (or not). I seek different forms of ‘play development’ for each individual project, and would prefer a wider definition and source for potential interaction rather than a binary, or a ‘one size fits all’. I would hate for a rift to open here in Wales between ‘plays’ and ‘new theatre writing’ – or what you will – or for playwrights to feel like pariahs, as Simon feared.

Yes, there are other models other than the literary department model - but that in itself is increasingly under fire. It’s interesting how many companies in the UK over the past 12-18 months have been phasing out the ‘literary manager’ or even ‘dramaturg’ (which was fashionable for about 5 minutes)... Perhaps then it’s not so much ‘under fire’ but in the process of evolving? I’ve also been involved for many years with a series of new writing networks and organisations which have recently lost their funding (writernet, RIP) or whose brief has broadened to include other mediums - and with the change in status for new theatre writing from some funding bodies (eg ACE), there is a sense of something wider going on... I don’t necessarily mean this as sinister or that we should all get paranoid and start typewritering the barricades – I’m simply acknowledging a shift – but one that I feel is significant. Owing to the historic dearth of opportunities for play development in Wales, many of us have been ‘developed’ elsewhere over the years. It now seems like the outlets for the development of new writing across the UK are shrinking, playwright-centric organisations have been cut, and many of those traditional allies within building-based theatres – the literary managers - are no longer in place, so a chilly climate at the best of times is feeling even more arctic. No surprise then at the passion involved in this debate, nor the seriousness of the outcome.

What I personally want is diversification – the possibility for play readings, for dramaturgical feedback, for a studio space to kick ideas around in, for new processes and stimuli and forms to stretch me, give new skills and broaden my notion of what writing for performance might be. Whether this can be – or should be - catered for under one umbrella which then also has to produce work, I don’t know – but there is still a concern of ‘the hegemony of tastes’ should the majority of play development lie predominantly with one company inside Wales. We don’t have the range of ‘that’s a Royal Court play’ or ‘one for the Bush’, should we want the work we write inside Wales to be developed and stay here, and despite the valiant efforts of the few, provision for writer development is still lacking. And these things really take time and sustained effort; a commitment not so much to a ‘play’, but the development of the practitioner and a relationship with the company.

More I’m sure will follow – these are a few first thoughts - but let’s not forget just how much the landscape has changed for the better in recent times. I for one am excited and optimistic about the future of performance in Wales – be that by playwrights or practitioners or theatre makers or performance writers or whatever....

Permalink Reply by Peter Cox MBE on June 27, 2009 at 23:53

Some excellent ideas and angles from other contributors so far.

Thought I'd throw a few more random thoughts into the mix of this intriguing debate.

(Before John began this thread I'd considered starting a discussion here entitled 'Playwrights: An endangered species?' Looks like we seem to be doing that anyway!

Having been doing this play writing thing for many years I thought it might be helpful to illustrate some of these points with personal experience references so here goes...

UNSOLICITED SCRIPTS

It's a well known fact that it's rare for an unsolicited manuscript to land on a literary manager's desk only to bounce straight off again to be lovingly welcomed by a company and immediately put into production.

However, that shouldn't prevent NTW from offering this route for writers to express themselves in their work, often at their own expense, and then want it to be responded to professionally by what is in essence a public service organisation. NTW is a publicly funded theatre arts organisation and theatre writers, being members of the public, should expect their work to be given due consideration and response in a national theatre set up. There are few enough organisations in Wales who have been able to or are able to build up relationships with writers like this. Partnership and collaboration with other organisations would make a lot of sense but shouldn't be seen as competition.

In a lot of the recent discussions most have only mentioned the Sherman with little mention of others commissioning or responding to new work such as Theatr Clwyd. In general are we sure this site is getting enough input from Mid, West and North Wales yet?

THE CLASSICS

David Edgar has repeatedly said that a key way that theatre companies can address the lack of roles for women in their programmes is by doing fewer plays by dead playwrights - ie work that reflects a byegone era, a different set of historic and social values shown by the vastly larger number of male roles in those plays.

This, I'm sure, will be a discussion amongst the Directors on this site who might want the challenge of directing a classic and having their vision judged against historic productions. As writers though, we need to be asking how the classics would grow NTW and its creators as well as offering its audiences a relevant world view and an entertaining night out.

By holding an entirely negative view of the classics we run the risk of potentially closing the door on great creative experiences. One way to balance the situation can be by...

RE-IMAGINING THE CLASSICS

Anyone who saw National Theatre Scotland's production of Peer Gynt will know what I'm talking about.

This was a partnership between NTS and Dundee Rep directed by Dominic Hill. It was a new version by Colin Teevan of Ibsen's extraodinary and difficult play. It was modern, irreverent, anarchic, visionary, hugely entertaining, thick with dialect speech but still accessible, fun, deeply moving, wildly theatrical, cheeky and very imaginative. (Even when seen on the wide barn of a stage at the Barbican). Not a bad list of plus points!

If NTS had a policy that turned its back on the classics then this amazing creative journey - re-imagining Peer Gynt - would not have been started.

ADAPTATIONS

There are some crossover points here with 'the classics'.

Adaptations, say of novel or film, can be a very good marketing tool - bringing attention to a company's work and giving an audience the comfort zone knowledge that they should be safe spending money on this show because they've heard of it in another form.

Shrewdly chosen adaptation can also speak wonderfully to its target audience. I once adapted John B Keane's book The Bodhran Makers (about Irish depopulation and emigration) as a community play in the Irish community of Cricklewood in north London. There could not have been a better choice of story and characters for this project.

Any theatre producing only new writing knows how hard it is to build that bridge of trust with an audience. The author's name is not known, neither is the play title and new work is often seen as experimental - therefore, only for people interested in 'experimental theatre'.

Some companies may also see an adaptation choice as less of a risk or less dangerous because they start the process with a blueprint - a story, characters etc that they hope can be shaped. There's probably no real difference in this approach than that taken by the great creators of drama in the past. From Shakespeare to the Greeks to Edward Bond and beyond - myths, legends, folk tales and pre-existing narratives of all kinds have been re-imagined, re-interpreted and re-worked for the age they were to be played in. (Plundered and plagiarised might be another view!)

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS

Embedded or Exploratory

Again from personal experience I know that an Embedded research project can profoundly affect a playwright's work and voice while at the same time producing drama that speaks to its audience in a unique way.

Early in my career the Royal Court Theatre commissioned me to go and live in the Bogside - a Republican area of Derry in Northern Ireland, just after the Hunger Strikes.

As most of us will know the Embedded approach means you live in and with that community 24/7 - the phrase coming from early warzone journalism. Establishing trust in such a process is paramount and the whole experience is not without danger at times. What it gives you, however, is a deep and profound insight into a community - one which is usually in crisis and often either oppressed and silenced, or simply unheard because they are people who have no influence or power.

A similar commission came from the National Theatre (as it was then) in London at the start of the 1984 miner's strike. They sent me to live in London's local coalfield, Kent, with a militant striking miner and his family. The intention was that I would produce work that would reflect that community's voice which it was felt was being manipulated and misrepresented by the Media and the Press.

It's important to say that in both instances no-one expected me to write propaganda for one point of view. I was asked to observe, interview, listen, learn and then find emblematic dramatic work that brought those lives to the stage. Work that expressed their diverse and complex truths.

As you can imagine they were life changing experiences that deepened my understanding of the human condition and the world I write about every day.

On the other hand...

Exploratory Assignments can really challenge a playwright's creative core and allow them to go into uncharted territory without the limitations and restrictions set by Embedded research.

In many ways playwrights do this every day - but the journey is in our minds and imaginations - not physically around the coastal towns of Wales. (Enjoyed Marc and Sian's diary by the way). In many respects every commission made by NTW needs to involve an element of the Exploratory research assignment. Not just internally for the writer to explore new places and subjects but for us also to be taken out of our comfort zone and given the opportunity to see what we can offer into a whole range of performance experiences - from proscenium arch and studio to ARG's to street theatre and circus. New forms will develop and we need to respond. Love them or hate them, both the Sultan's Elephant and Liverpool's Spider are dramatised and enacted narratives using the cityscape and audience as setting.

It's probably desirable that NTW should also be thinking about Exploratory Assignments in relation to international work and collaborations because Wales, its writers, its creative artists and above all its people, exist in that wider world and not in a vacuum behind Offa's Dyke. Welsh soldiers fight in Afghanistan. Welsh aid workers bore wells in Sudan. And then there's the Welsh diaspora.

RESPONSIVE

From what we've learned from John and his team thus far, this kind of work is clearly on the agenda. Being able to respond quickly to world and national events and finding ways to give them a voice through theatre / drama / performance.

This is an interesting proposition for a writer but not necessarily a positive one. One thing that cannot be pre-determined is just how long a play can take to become fully found, formed and finally revised and delivered. Of course we all work to deadline and have to but there is a failure rate of plays that never make it on time or are just not ready when needed.

This can set up a situation where writers, by engaging in the quick turn around response process, may feel they are producing 'disposable' work - ie work that will not last and has no likelihood of further production. Nothing wrong with that in principle, of course, as we are writing for today - not posterity. It can be exciting, fulfilling, powerful and a great way of developing confidence and skills but from an economic point of view it's a very short term pay off for a playwright. In the longer term royalties are part of the way playwrights survive. (The same can also be applied to community plays which have no resale long term value.)

Time also plays a part here. There's a tendency to think that responsive writing has to be instant, but when you look at my two projects above - the opposite is true.

When I spent my first day in Kent who knew I'd still be there sixteen months later - having by then created two documentary verbatim collage pieces for the National and a completely original stage play with songs touring mining communities all over the UK for 7:84 Theatre Company (England). (Including to a full house at the Parc and Dare Theatre in Treorchy). The same, of course, applies to the length of time the troubles in Northern Ireland lasted with my Embedded response representing but a tiny moment of time.

(Just a quick anecdote here. When we produced the first documentary collage piece in the Cottesloe we bussed up coachloads of miners and their families from Kent to see it. In the Green Room bar one of the miners said to me - 'Your doorman's a big bugger, isn't he?' I said the National didn't have doormen. He pointed over to a large man in a dark green velvet jacket and dickie bow. I explained that this was, in fact, Sir Peter Hall, Artistic Director of the NT at the time!!! A cause for great mirth amongst the acting company.) (Not sure if John M owns a green velvet dickie bow? Will we be told?)

One thing that can be of particular use in the Responsive Work model is...

WRITERS' TEAM

There are few models where writers are given the opportunity to develop their craft by working with other writers within a more 'formalised' group setting. (Not the American sit-com version known as 'team writing'.)

This can be an extraordinarily empowering experience for writers - especially emerging writers. I'm not talking about the standard writers' group approach either. I'm thinking about a rigorous and vigorous writers' round table where themes, ideas, framing devices, forms, structure, content and meaning can be explored and developed with other writers - facilitated by and with the NTW creative team. A forum where draft scripts might be discussed and interrogated at an early stage. An open and collaborative learning and creative process that does not diminish a playwright's single authorial voice but, instead, allows a playwright to understand their voice better and to learn from others.

I'm lucky to have had extensive personal experience of such a writers' round table format having written for the serial television drama Brookside for eighteen years - alongside my continuing theatre work. There, our monthly story development meetings were intellectual, artistic and emotional bear-pits. Debate about politics, sex, religion, crime, corruption, the law and international perspectives etc ran alongside the most ordinary domestic crisis or deeply felt human experience. (Playwright Shaun Duggan, another NTW member, could attest to this.) These two-day sessions were exhausting and exhaustive - our craft skills always being honed and grown. Huge differences of opinion were the norm although personal views were always respected. When we 'switched on' in those meetings we knew that argument was the order of the day and our guiding principle was that, for our audience, one thing ruled - story - and in turn, the meaning of that story both in their lives and to their lives.

This system - a form of peer-mentoring - is something that emerging writers are rarely given access to. Which leads us on to...

APPRENTICESHIP / MENTORING

As a general principle we need to remember that new playwrights face many challenges but have few opportunities to learn alongside more experienced writers. The situation is generally less of an issue with directors, (where you can start as an assistant), actors, (where you might work in the same cast as 'old hands') or for musicians who often get the opportunity to play with more experienced musicians. Stage managers, lighting designers, stage and costume designers all have established routes through the 'assistant' model.

The position of 'assistant playwright' though is more wishful-thinking than reality. It is also common for many writers to come from outside the established training and learning pathways through higher education which many actors, directors and musicians follow.

Mentoring opportunities and an apprenticeship mentality from NTW would, I'm sure, reap significant benefit over time.

PLAYS IN COMMUNITIES

Those still awake amongst you will note that I didn't say community plays!

When Ann Jellicoe was developing the concept of the community play most of the thinking behind the process was geographical and social. The principle being that a professionally led and developed project could generate large scale participation and subsequent performance in a community play - a form of theatrical social engineering in the most unexpected places. Despite being an advocate for community plays I'm not sure that NTW is the right mechanism to deliver them.

Today the definitions of community are far more complex and wide ranging than ever before and our theatre should be finding ways to investigate this and finding ways for us to relate to it. These days we are more aware that Communities of Interest, of Emotion, of Experience, Action, Circumstance, Practice, Purpose, Position exist alongside and within communities of Place.

New technologies and networks will allow us to engage with these communities in different, perhaps yet, undiscovered ways.

Maybe NTW could consider giving this model a fresh look - beyond the geographical concept.

COLLABORATIVE DEVELOPMENT

This surely is at the heart of all we do. Creating a piece of work and getting it to its audience requires a healthy attitude to collaboration. In recent years though, playwrights might be forgiven for possibly feeling excluded from this process which is unfortunate.

In many cases new pieces of work for performance are devised and then 'written' by groups of actors and directors without engaging a writer as part of the process. I'm definitely not against this - unless it's done badly!

Again from personal experience I can say that I have then been brought into such situations when the team has been unable to find the play in the development work they've done - putting me into, what elsewhere might be termed, a 'script doctor' position. Not always the best time or place to start your creative relationship with a play.

Conversely, whenever I am engaged as a playwright I have the highest regard for the benefits that collaborative development brings. I love to hear actors exploring work in progress and relish the objective external perspective that directors and others bring to the work.

Re-engaging with the notion of including writers in the development and rehearsal room process would be a great step forward. (Even on plays they haven't written which I know might sound radical!) It is very hard for writers to learn in meetings sat around tables spouting words about their script, which is in reality, a blueprint for action.

Putting the work up on its feet and interrogating it is a fantastic development tool for writers. And the more tools we have at our disposal the better the work. An objective we would all sign up to I'm sure.

Permalink Reply by Brad Birch on June 29, 2009 at 11:45

I think Peter hits the nail on the head when he talks about the assistant vehicle that other areas within theatre have. And I think the absence of that for writing is really unfortunate.

I have been under the mentorship of Peter now for just over a year and I find our discussions invaluable. It's almost like embedded research into the art of writing itself. It's not about the ideas, it's about the development of the ideas and how to cultivate them. You're making notes with a writer, you're brainstorming with a writer and you're seeing how writers go about structuring these things in their own minds. It's the kind of thing that a book can't really give you, I suppose.

I'm not sure how NTW would go about supporting or encouraging this, but it's something that I've found to be extremely important in my continuing development as a writer.

Permalink Reply by National Theatre Wales on June 29, 2009 at 11:49

Thanks everyone for these thought-provoking and very useful contributions. Over the coming months we will put together a draft policy and post it here for comments, so that everyone can continue to input, agree and disagree, and come up with better ideas. I've no doubt that a community of writers can come up with a better policy than I can by myself. And Tim, don't ever worry about disagreeing with me or any other NTW bod on here - the whole point of having this forum is to have an open, honest debate about things that matter a lot to all of us.

What I do want to make sure we have is a policy that is clear, and that we can deliver on. There seems to be a consensus in submissions so far that we need to create a range of differing kinds of opportunities for theatre writers (and for writers who want to try theatre) - whether that is a traditional play, an opportunity to work with a circus company, collaborative writing, or a thousand other forms of theatre. I agree with Simon that there is no inherently conservative form, and equally I agree with Kaite that the split that seems to have been had a lot of press coverage in the last year or so between 'plays' and everything else in theatre (aka juggling acts in a least one famous playwright's summary) has been unhelpful in exploring the many roles that writing for theatre can take.

If we want to embrace an openness of form, I guess I do question whether a script reading service is the best starting point. And some of you who have heard me spout on will know that I've also had my doubts in the past as to whether the usual forms of play development (lots of solitary rewrites intermingled with script in hand readings) actually serve writers productively. Could there be a different and more useful model for looking at the work of new writers, expanding the opportunities for established writers, and blazing a trail as to what writing in theatre can be?

Permalink Reply by Kaite O'Reilly on June 29, 2009 at 22:26

I question whether NTW would need to provide a formal script reading service. I know script reading services provide essential roles, not least identifying writers, beginning some kind of dialogue and stopping (even for a short time) the writer from being isolated and unsupported – but I do wonder quite how efficient and successful they actually are in developing the writer and script, at least in the first place. In my experience, it’s always after the contact has been made and a relationship is developing that benefits flow – and one of the main purposes of sending scripts to a company is as a calling card, as introduction, to hopefully begin a conversation. If NTW are providing open access and other routes for writers to make a relationship with the company (not least here, with the notion of a NTW ‘community’) – perhaps the ‘calling card’ is no longer a required option and there may be other ways to get to know the writer and her work – through workshops, mentoring, all those fabulous ideas other writers have contributed here in this discussion...

I was a reader for several of the big new writing companies in London in the early 90’s, and unfortunately owing to the huge levels of submissions (often the same unrevised scripts going to all of the different theatre script reading services), our role tragically didn’t seem to be about assisting or developing writers, but getting rid of them – sift through the hundreds of scripts in some kind of awful search for ‘talent’ (and how might we define this, agree on the signs, credentials, etc?). Every script was read and a considered report written. After this experience, I have the greatest respect for script readers – they are usually diligent and committed people, passionate about new work and working with optimism and idealism in the face of what sometimes feels like a cynical exercise – they need to be appreciated and applauded. Thankfully, Wales is not in this position, but, like John, I do question whether this service needs to be replicated in all companies in Wales, or whether there are other entry level processes to use. Once a script and writer is identified, the development they receive is different from the ‘script reading service’, surely?

Permalink Reply by Lucy Davies on June 30, 2009 at 1:10

This has been a completely soul-reviving and inspiring debate. THANK YOU ALL. I'm not a writer, but my entire career (and marriage!) has been dedicated to writing and writers. This forum reminds me why.

A quick development perspective:

I used to run the National Theatre Studio, very much a non-literary-dept development model - we gave writers the following things:

1. rooms to inhabit and write in - and free coffee to drink (with whoever else might be in the building at the same time, sometimes a legend, sometimes a maverick)

2. very talented actors to play with

3. privacy when it was needed

4. an audience when it was needed

5. the director of their dreams

6. research opportunities and access to some great places and people (being allied to a National Theatre opens doors)

7. small pots of cash with no strings

8. inspiration and support and ambition to aim BIG, TRUE, BRAVE - in the end, to be produced

9. control

10. a home / a community - NOT a department just for writers, but a vibrant hostel for everyone making theatre in every single conceivable way

11. tickets to shows

12. much more...

I used to encourage every one of the attached writers at the Studio to go and stand in the wings of the Olivier stage and walk to the centre of the stage. It takes eleven seconds. Imagining a line of dialogue that a character would need to get them on is the kind of practical, action, machine-making that was really vital, I felt, for the generation of studio-emerging writers I was often working with at that time.

I stood in the middle of the main stage of the WMC yesterday and looked out at 2,000 seats, and felt incredibly excited. Let's have a writing policy that strives for nothing less than filling that place, on stage and off.

At its best a writing policy will inadvertently be a "production" policy. The two are the same. This is John's great holistic vision for NTW; no departments where endangered species are protected; everything at the heart.

Permalink Reply by Peter Cox MBE on June 30, 2009 at 9:19

Love this post Lucy. (Was your soul really in need of reviving?)

I had the great pleasure of developing work at the NT Studio with Peter Gill, John Burgess, Sue Higginson... worked for me!

Book me in for the first week please. And maybe the second. Third? Yeah why not. Now where's my diary...

Permalink Reply by Jon Spooner on July 1, 2009 at 3:45

A refreshingly open debate here - I hope everyone stays open to keeping all future debates similarly so. Also brilliant that there's such regular and thoughtful contributions from people leading the organisation. So yes, brilliant - thanks.

Loving what Lucy wrote about the NT in Engalnd's Studio policy and the potential for that experience to infect a policy in Wales. I'd do almost anything to have access to all of those things as a writer.

In case you haven't seen or heard of it yet - The Bush in that London are trialling a rather brilliant looking social networking site specifically for writers. It's called Bush Green and describes itself as "a collaboration and publishing website for playwrights". Enormously thoughtful and practical tool that has among many features a script reading element that also includes peer comments. Got a sneak peek of it when bumped into Josie Rourke at Shift Happens in York yesterday.

Thanks again.

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