Bruce Norris’s raucously funny and fearlessly shocking racial satire Clybourne Park opened in the West End this week. Since its UK debut at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010, the play has received widespread critical acclaim – hailed as ‘the funniest play of the year’ (Evening Standard), ‘genius’ (Times) and ‘out of this world’ (Independent) … Continue reading Five minutes with Bruce Norris – author of CLYBOURNE PARK
Plays
PART 5: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
Andrew Sheridan is a joint-winner of the 2008 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition for his play Winterlong – 'a dazzling debut' Guardian. Set in Manchester, the play explores what happens when a baby is discarded a few nights before Christmas. Sheridan is also an actor, and has appeared in award-winning TV, film and theatre. How would you … Continue reading PART 5: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
PART 4: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
FIONA PEEK...worked for many years as an actress and director in Ireland, before returning to England and completing an MA in Dramatic Writing. Her first full-length play, Salt, was joint-winner of the 2008 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition, and was premiered at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in February 2010. Until you’ve had a play accepted and … Continue reading PART 4: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
PART 3: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
VIVIENNE FRANZMANN...was a Drama teacher in London for twelve years. She left teaching in 2009 to pursue writing after winning the 2008 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition for Mogadishu. The play also won the George Devine Award in 2010. What did it mean to win the Bruntwood Prize? The first thing was that it was a total … Continue reading PART 3: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
PART 2: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
BEN MUSGRAVE...on winning the inaugural Bruntwood Prize in 2007 for his play Pretend You Have Big Buildings How has winning the first Bruntwood Prize affected your career as a writer? A week before the prize announcement, I had given up my job to concentrate on writing full-time. Winning the prize felt like a miraculous validation … Continue reading PART 2: Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2011
2011 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition
Today marks the launch of the third Bruntwood Playwriting Competition – the UK’s biggest (and most lucrative) award for playwrights. It doesn’t matter where you come from in the UK, whether you’ve never written before (or you’ve written a hundred plays), or what you want to write about. You’ve got until 3rd June 2011 to … Continue reading 2011 Bruntwood Playwriting Competition
Going Public: What playwrights feel about their reviews
Playwright and tutor Steve Waters explains the power of the review, and offers advice on how to deal with them, whether they're good or bad. As I sat down to write this piece, I was waiting for reviews for two new plays of mine: Amphibians, a project I have developed with Offstage Theatre Company, and … Continue reading Going Public: What playwrights feel about their reviews
Why Publish Plays?
Do plays need to be published in the first place? Publisher Nick Hern looks at the how and the why, and what lies ahead in the age of ebooks. Publishing plays is an odd activity – and at Nick Hern Books we publish a lot of plays: there are about 900 in print, and we … Continue reading Why Publish Plays?
The Prompt Book 