The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is supporting London Writers Week, an annual celebration of new writing in the UK, which runs for the first time this year from Wednesday 8 July to Saturday 11 July 2015.
London Writers Week is a new partnership between MA Dramatic Writing at Drama Centre London at Central Saint Martins (pictured above), and Guardian Masterclasses.
The theme of this year’s festival is New Ideas, with events providing access to the best new ideas currently going on in the UK. Attendees can choose from a variety of interactive workshops and events across a broad range of disciplines. Courses on offer include:
• An evening masterclass with John Yorke, creator of the BBC Writers Academy, on the secrets of successful screenwriting.
• A day-long workshop with Ola Animashawun, Creative Director of Euphoric Ink and founder of the Royal Court Theatre’s young writers’ programme, introducing ‘Open Heart Theatre’, a new method for engaging audiences with theatre in the UK.
• An evening seminar on screenwriting and script editing with Philip Shelley, who initiated and runs Channel 4’s screenwriting course.
• A day-long workshop with Lucy Kerbel, creator and Director of Tonic Theatre, on exploring gender and writing.
The week also offers support to independent companies to showcase some of the best new ideas going on in dramatic writing in the UK. These include:
• A showcase of Taxi Tales, Tamasha Theatre Company’s new project, and Q&A with WGGB member Fin Kennedy, Artistic Director of Tamasha.
• A showcase of Open Heart Theatre with Ola Animashawun, Creative Director of Euphoric Ink.
• A showcase of the work of graduating MA Dramatic Writing students at Drama Centre London at Central Saint Martins, overseen by Course Leader Jennifer Tuckett and directed by Lucy Kerbel, whose Platform project has recently been exploring how to engage more young women in writing and performing in the theatre.
There are a range of tickets at different prices, starting at £10 (£8 concessions) up to £199. The showcase of the work of graduating MA Dramatic Writing students includes free masterclasses on the theme of ‘How to Teach Dramatic Writing’ from (among others) WGGB Theatre Co-Chair and Former President David Edgar, who founded the UK’s first MA in Playwriting. Tickets for these masterclasses must be reserved online.
WGGB General Secretary Bernie Corbet said: “WGGB is proud to be a supporter of London Writers Week, which will place new writing firmly on the national and international map, where it belongs.”
London Writers Week is overseen by the British Writers Council, an advisory group made up of John Yorke, Philip Shelley, Kate Rowland, Steve Winter, Ola Animashawun, Fin Kennedy, Jennifer Tuckett, Caroline Jester and Lucy Kerbel.
For more information and details of how to book tickets, visit the London Writers Week website.
Photo: Shutterstock.com/Ron Ellis
