Springing into action tomorrow, Tuesday, 24 April, we’re back for another meeting in Bristol Old Vic’s Rehearsal Room.
Sign in at BOV’s Stage Door off Queen Charlotte Street, BS1 4HJ, and go directly to the Rehearsal Room on the second floor — please ask at the entrance if you need directions to the meeting. Everyone attending pays £2.
Tuesday, 24 April at 8pm: Open Workshop
Tonight we’re featuring contributions from Brian Weaving, Drew Holt and Kieran Battles.
Brian is aiming his five-minute generational conflict script, It’s Them Again, at this year’s Pint-sized Plays competition.
Drew’s TV script, Clocked, tells of a duo of indolent graduates, who each decides, after a chance meeting on a bench, to help sort out the other’s troubles. They soon discover that others are as directionless as them.
Kieran’s stage play, Apex Alpha, explores ‘the reality, the possibility and the unknown’ of emerging technology: ‘AI is the next generation of artificial intelligence. But will the alpha being become the apex predator? And, if the ghost in the machine does become an extinction level event, what does artificial intelligence do when humans are gone?’
Tuesday, 29 May at 8pm in the Clore Learning Studio: Open Workshop
We’ve a lot of work in progress pending at present, but if you need feedback on your embryonic script, get in touch via our ‘Book a workshop slot’ form, and we’ll find you some time sometime in our upcoming programme.
Pat Dallimore (1937-2018)
Long-standing friends of Southwest Scriptwriters will be especially saddened at news of the passing of Pat Dallimore, who died on 4 March following a lengthy illness.
A founding member of the group, Pat was also part of its initial informal management committee. She enjoyed writing poetry, prose and play scripts, and in the 1970s published through Bristol Broadsides, a community publisher, also working as part of the social enterprise’s editorial team. Her playwriting attracted interest from London’s Bush Theatre, and we featured two of her plays, Jane and Bill and The Book, in our first season of rehearsed readings in the New Vic Studio 20 years ago this month.
Pat began her broadcasting career as a presenter on the community cable station Knowle West TV in the early 1970s. She later won a large local following with her fortnightly Tuesday appearances on BBC Radio Bristol’s John Turner Show, which began in the 1980s and continued until the presenter retired in 2007. Pat used her natural narrative skills in her conversations with ‘JT’, relating her recent activities with a compelling wit that made her stories of family life and outings (often with her husband Jim) funny and gripping.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHvm6H-aHgo&start=895[/embedyt]
Apart from wartime evacuation with her mother to Cornwall, Pat grew up in Knowle West, the daughter of a dock worker. She lived much of her life on the estate, extending her family circle through her work as a foster carer. Like Pat’s father, Jim worked as a docker, and Pat drew on this family background in writing Jane and Bill. While Pat and Jim (who died in December 2015) moved to Redcliffe in later life, Pat maintained strong links with Knowle West.
Paying tribute to Pat on BBC Radio Bristol, Father Richard McKay, parish priest of Easton’s St Nicholas of Tolentino, said:
‘She was always full of fun. She’d always be ready with a remark. She could aiso be quite challenging at times as well — she’d certainly say what she thought in that wonderful voice. What I particularly remember her for is the fact that, I think, that she was a great voice of Knowle West when Knowle West didn’t really have a voice in the city, as it were. Publicly. And she was a great advocate, really, for people who were put down by others. And that’s one of the enduring things I remember about her. As well as her sense of humour, her sense of fun.’
While Pat was not a regular at Southwest Scriptwriters after the early 2000s, she was a vital part of the group in its earky days, and we were fortunate to benefit from her contribution in getting established. Our sincere condolences to Pat’s family and friends.
Submit your Chorts
The Comedy Crowd works to discover comedy writing and performing talent through its Chorts initiative. Chorts are two-minute comic videos with potential for development as a series of episodes or sketches,
The organisation is seeking its latest round of Chorts until Monday, 21 May. To enter, you need to upload your two-minutes of mirth-making to Vimeo or YouTube, and send the video link to The Comedy Crowd via its website. Your video doesn’t have to be technically accomplished — previously successful entrants shot their Chorts on smartphones — and if you don’t want to appear on screen, you can seek performing talent through The Comedy Crowd’s Facebook page.
The Comedy Crowd supported by the project’s sponsor, Bath Spa University, will help the creators of selected Chorts develop and promote their ideas.