We’re getting back to something like business as usual this month with a pilot meeting via Zoom.
Many of you will be be very familiar by now with Zoom, which has become the go-to online video conferencing service during the COVID-19 lockdown, so we hope it won’t be too much of a stretch for you to join our virtual meeting! If you haven’t been Zooming away since 23 March, find our handy guide on the way to get connected by clicking or tapping on ‘How do I join the meeting?’ below.
Wednesday, 17 June at 7.30pm on Zoom: Happy by Charlotte Souter
We’re piloting online meetings with Charlotte’s script first scheduled for a workshop session in March. In Happy, Harry lives in a world in which everyone is happy. He has a tracker that tells him how happy he is. But when his reading starts to fall, he is sent on a journey to find out why…
You need a Zoom account to join the meeting
To access our meeting, you will need to sign in using a Zoom account. Zoom will warn you that this is an ‘Internal Meeting Only’ if you click or tap the above link and are not signed in. Sign up for a free account here. Tap or click the following link for a guide on how to connect.
How do I join the meeting?
- You’ll need a Zoom account to access the meeting. Sign up at zoom.us if you haven’t done so already — it’s free to join.
- Use the Zoom app to connect to the meeting.
- Install and launch the Zoom app on your device — you will see a screen with options to ‘Join a Meeting’ or ‘Sign In’.
- Click or tap the ‘Sign In’ option and do so with the email address and password you used to set up your Zoom account above.
- When you’re signed into the Zoom app, join the meeting by clicking or tapping the following link:
- Following the above link will open a browser window and a dialogue box asking you to wait for the meeting to start (if it hasn’t already started). You can check that your device’s speakers are working while you’re waiting by clicking or tapping the ‘Test Audio’ button.
- When we start the meeting, you’ll see the video preview dialogue box, which lets you see how you’ll appear to everyone in the meeting. When you’re happy with this, tap or click ‘Join with Video’.
- You’ll enter a ‘waiting room’ that displays the following screen. Please bear with us as we may have a few things to sort out — we’ll let you in soon!
- On entering the meeting, your microphone will be muted to avoid confusing crosstalk and so that late arrivers won’t disturb any activities in progress. We’ll go through how the meeting will work at the beginning and you’ll have plenty of chances to speak!
- If you’re unable to connect using the link in 5. above, launch the Zoom app and click or tap on the ‘Join’ icon.
- Enter the meeting ID 86785009131 in the relevant field and clic or tap ‘Join’. This will bring you to the ‘waiting room’ as shown in 8. above.
Village Vigilante and The Deafening Quiet win BWT lockdown challenge
Short single-handers by Bristol writers Liz Lowe and Helen Ward took the two top spots in Brass Works Theatre’s search for Lockdown Monologues.
Inspired by life during the coronavirus lockdown, the writers turned in scripts featuring a concerned citizen’s vlog of his efforts to keep the social distance in his local community and a home-schooling mum seeking refuge in the smallest room.
Southwest Scriptwriters committee members Adrian Harris and Stephanie Weston self-recorded the winning entries, and you can view the videos below.
BWT’s Lockdown Monologue challenge attracted 33 script submissions from writers in and around Bristol, and the videos of the selected scripts have received exposure on BBC Radio Bristol’s Upload programme and Bristol Old Vic’s YouTube channel.
Bigger window for 2020 BOV Open Session
The Open Session, Bristol Old Vic’s annual search for original plays and musicals from writers across the South West, spans June and July this year.
The theatre is seeking scripts that you have taken time to edit (if your work is much over 90 pages, it needs some pruning!), and is:
‘…excited by work that is distinctive and theatrical, with live staging at its heart. We’re attracted by stories that ask questions and tell us something about being alive today, pieces that in some way have relevance to our own lives and consider their audience.’
BOV’s team of readers will assess the submissions anonymously, and offer the top 15 writers feedback on their scripts. The company will then create bespoke development packages for the writers whose work it finds most exciting, leading to ongoing relationships and possible commissions.