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Comment by Richard Huw Morgan on January 23, 2012 at 11:42

grrrr. damn you, you social network thing, invading on my thought processes about other things like Pitch on Radio Cardiff in the morning, new directions to be taken with our NTW WlaesLab research (having picked up a book called 'Computers as Theatre" in the local oxfam) and exciting new developments in our ACW 'Theatre Production Development Fund Project'(May now be called 'After' or, ' Ar ol' or both, or neither....

You are right John, I do have things to say. And i will say them. Tonight, I will stick with John Cage and say, "I have nothing to say, and i am saying it"

xrhmx

Comment by Richard Huw Morgan on January 23, 2012 at 11:03

H'm, was just concentrating on tomorrows radio programme, one of those many sort of extra-curicular, not-for-profit, er, voluntary activities, but absolutely vital and germane to the continuation and contextualisation of performance/theatre, that i've been doing for the last 20 odd years as well as making work by my/our selves and with others, and now you throw some perfectly valid other thoughts into my ring (so to speak). Will be back with you in a few minutes. (after a nice cup of tea or glass of wine)

Comment by National Theatre Wales on January 23, 2012 at 10:51

What do you think Richard - as someone who's made theatre where text often isn't the starting point - and who is passionate about the identity of Welsh theatre. Is there a particularly Welsh relationship between text, performance, playwriting, poetry, the body, place...  Is there something unique we should nurture in relation to Welsh theatre writing, or is that too prescriptive?

Comment by Richard Huw Morgan on January 23, 2012 at 10:30

Perfectly valid i'd say. Just poking my nose in to flag up tomorrows guests on Pitch on Radio Cardiff are Chris Ricketts and Chris Durnall, with guest co-host Leona Jones, so a theatre/text orientated show then. Any questions/points that you might like raised can be sent to Pitch at our www.culturecolony.com page. Log in (or sign up) and add to the conversation. Tune in at 10am at 98.7fm (in the Cardiff area), go on-line to www.radiocardiff.org (worldwide) for live streaming.

Comment by National Theatre Wales on January 23, 2012 at 10:16

Oops Sorry Simon, Tim and all!! 

I should read the first line of things shouldn't I!! 

Is my question still valid?  Let me know!

Comment by meredydd barker on January 23, 2012 at 8:29

Tim didn't write the statement, John. Simon Harris did, I think, ten or so years ago.

Comment by National Theatre Wales on January 23, 2012 at 8:23

Great to see all of this progressing.  Tim - did you get all that done while you were typing Bradley Manning with the other hand?  At NTW we are starting the process of writing a plan for the next three years (April 2012-March 2015) and I'm keen to open up the question of what we do for writers and how, within the wider national (and international context).  I'll post something proper and thought through on here in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime I'd be really interested to hear more thoughts on one particular line of Tim's proposed statement, right at the end:  'a national strategy for drama that reflects an impartial and inclusive process, placing new stage writing at its heart'.  As many of you know, my work over the years has been primarily with new writing - it's where my heart is as a director, but is there a irrefutable reason for the statement 'placing new stage writing at its heart' - or is that a question we should/could consider alongside other alternatives (e.g putting radical directing of classic work at the heart as they arguably do in Germany)?  As I say, I have a bunch of questions about how NTW should and could work with writers that I want to frame a bit more and then put out here, so my question about Tim's statement is just a starter.

Comment by Simon Harris on January 23, 2012 at 0:42

Carmen, I sympathise with the position of emerging writers and it can be particularly frustrating to work as a playwright in Wales, but I don't think Tim posted this with the intention of starting a bun fight around the merits or otherwise of Sgript Cymru. You may like to to reflect on a couple of things, however, before you generalise from a personal feeling or experience into something larger.

Between 2002 and 2005 Sgript Cymru reached an enormous number of people across Wales with its pioneering Community Writer scheme. It offered playwrights the chance to embed themselves in communities in Swansea, Holyhead, Bangor, Mold, Cwmbran, Llanelli, Merthyr and Felinfach - to mention just some of the places the company worked. It was a community engagement project - not unlike NTW's Assembly or the Sherman's Spread The Word - but it was distinctive in that it allowed playwrights to lead the work, located them for up to four months in that community and bought them time to write. You shouldn't ignore the fact that Sgript Cymru worked with, commissioned and produced the work of playwrights across the length and breadth of Wales. There was only one imperative - whether we thought the work was any good, nothing else.

The second point - and this is perhaps more germane to what Tim is getting at - is that Sgript Cymru received £170K from the ACW when it launched and received less than twice that by the time it merged with the Sherman in 2007. For that amount, the company produced around 3-4 productions a year and had 10-14 playwrights commissioned at any one time.Sherman Cymru receives nearly £1.1 million a year, Clwyd Theatr Cymru receives nearly £1.6 million and NTW receives £1.25 million. So I think the question it's fair to ask is whether playwrights feel they are getting a commensurate level of support, whether it is reflected in an increased number of productions and whether there is the thinking in place to recognise this.

The statement that Tim has posted was actually written by me after extensive consultation with playwrights and published with the written support of over 60 named writers - not all of them Cardiff-based. Not having looked at it since the period it was published, it is interesting to look at what has changed and what has stayed the same. While cosmetically things are very different, the sense I get from the writers I speak to is that opportunity is just as limited.  

Comment by Othniel Smith on January 22, 2012 at 1:14

I'm sure Action Point 3 ("an independent commissioning fund") would be relatively inexpensive and easy to implement, and welcomed by companies and writers alike.

Comment by meredydd barker on January 21, 2012 at 8:30

No we haven't. I'll make a more substantial contribution again but I will say that the writing of plays is the work of personal initiative; theres too much micro management in Welsh theatre for personal initiative to be allowed, let alone valued.

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