Studio Salford Development Week is a really exciting and special time for WriteForTheStage. It's our opportunity to celebrate and share the brilliant work that gets started and developed during our courses.
The diversity of the work never fails to excite me. The sheer scope of story ideas is amazing, and it's a real privilege to be part of the development of that work. We have dark comedy, high stakes drama, domestic stalemates, people in search of their lost memory, murder to protect youth-giving plants, copping off at festivals... The rich tapestry of life is fully represented.
Today, I've been printing off the scripts in preparation for rehearsals over the weekend. We have a great company of actors - Leni Murphy, Amy Drake, Darren Scott and Nathan Morris and one of Manchester's best directors, Martha Simon - who will be getting together at the Royal Exchange's Swan St Studios on Saturday to prepare for the rehearsed readings. On Sunday, they'll be continuing to work on really bringing the work to life, all ready for the first readings on Monday night at The Kings Arms Theatre.
Work that's been developed at Studio Salford WriteForTheStage has been part of 24:7 Theatre Festival, Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, with writers subsequent work appearing at Contact MCR, Royal Exchange, Kings Arms Theatre, Hope Mill Theatre. It's been a great start for many writers.
We're also supporting the production of Marina and the Clone, written by RP Douglas as part of the WFTS Advanced and Producing courses. This production, appearing at The Kings Arms on 15-18th March, has been supported by Arts Council England.
None of this would have been possible without the support of Arts Council England, who help us to support new and developing writers and share their work.
Studio Salford Development Week 9 runs from Monday 20th - Sat 25th Feb at The Kings Arms Theatre. For the full timetable and to book, click here.
