Playwriting: Chris Thorpe & Nicola McCartney, Guest: David Greig

Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon 11th Sep - Sat 16th Sep, 2017
5:00pm - 10:00am

Location
Moniack Mhor, Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire , IV4 7HT

Make it, then break it. Understanding form, then asking if it works for you.

Plays come in many different shapes, but to deviate from the norm, you have to understand what you’re deviating from. The week will provide a grounding in classical dramatic structure, and then encourage participants to test their own ideas against it. The questions at the heart of your work might be best served by a conventional play, or a text that feels very different. This week is about investigating what makes a play, why we write them, and which elements to use in your own work.

Chris Thorpe was a founder member of Unlimited Theatre as well as an Artistic Associate of live art/theatre company Third Angel. He has worked with, among others, Forest Fringe, Slung Low, Chris Goode, RashDash, Belarus Free Theatre and Portuguese experimental company mala voadora. He also plays guitar in Lucy Ellinson’s political noise project #TORYCORE and works with the National Student Drama Festival. His plays include There Has Possibly Been an Incident, Confirmation, both of which have toured internationally. He has also collaborated with Hannah Jane Walker to make The Oh Fuck Moment and I Wish I Was Lonely. Chris is the Arvon mentor for playwriting, 2016/17.

Nicola McCartney, originally from Belfast, is an award-winning writer and director, based in Scotland. A graduate of Glasgow University, she was Artistic Director of Glasgow-based new writing theatre company, lookOUT from 1992 to 2002. Her plays include: Heritage, Lifeboat,and Easy. Nicola has worked as a dramaturge for a range of companies including Vanishing Point and the Edinburgh International Festival 2005. She has had a range of residencies both academic and community based and is a former Associate Playwright of the new Playwrights Studio Scotland. She was a recipient of a Creative Scotland Award 2003 to work on her first novel entitled, Ice Angel, and also works in radio, TV and film. She designed and leads the Masters in Playwriting at University of Edinburgh.

David Greig is the Lyceum’s Artistic Director as well as an acclaimed and award-winning playwright. His plays have been performed across the UK, at the Royal Court, National, the RSC, and the Traverse Theatre in Scotland, and have been produced and toured around the world. Plays include Glasgow Girls, and The Lorax, which has just been on at the Old Vic, The Events, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, Dunsinane, and the book for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory the musical. David writes for screen and radio too and is currently under commission from Hillbilly Films and the BBC.

On this course, tutors will read a sample of your work ahead of time to get a feel for your work. Details of how and when to submit this will be sent to you in the course notes upon booking.

Bookings