Our week in the New Vic was a great success — all the plays were acclaimed by enthusiastic audiences. See below for details of our next competition. We now turn to our summer season with the following dates for your diary. All meetings take place in the Cooper’s Loft at the Bristol Old Vic. Ask at the bar on the first floor for directions. Entry is just £1.

Tuesday, 23 May at 7.30pm: Open Workshop

Tuesday, 30 May at 7.30pm: A Tender Prayer in the New Vic
A chance to see our President, Lucy Catherine’s New Vic production. After the performance, we’ll adjourn to the Cooper’s Loft for a brief discussion about the play with Lucy herself.

Tuesday, 6 June at 7.30pm: Open Workshop

Tuesday, 13 June at 7.30pm: Brown-Eyed Handsome Man by Sally Allnutt
A reading of Sally Allnutt’s comedy drama in which three female office workers discuss how different brown-eyed handsome men have influenced their lives.

Tuesday, 20 June at 7.30pm: Open Workshop

Tuesday, 27 June at 7.30pm: Maria by John Colborn
A reading of John Colborn’s very serious play which did very badly in our competition. Come and decide whether the readers’ reports were very wrong or very right.

 

Get set for our annual competition
Following the success of last year’s competition and our week in the New Vic, we’re pleased to announce another competition for this year. Details are still being worked out, but the essential elements are the same: scripts should be for stage, screen, TV or radio and around either 60 or 90 minutes long. The closing date will be 30 November 2000 and each script will be assessed anonymously by two readers. The high standard of this year’s productions (the BBC New Writing Initiative has asked for copies of all the scripts) gives us great optimism, so please start writing now.

 

Theatre West seeks 60-minute scripts
Theatre West is keen to read any stage scripts you may have of around 60 minutes in length which may be suitable for full production in the Alma Tavern.

 

Crumbling Walls plans further First Nights
Crumbling Walls, which is based at the Hope Centre in Hotwells, is also looking for new scripts for its First Nights series of rehearsed readings. Recently, scripts by Southwest Scriptwriters Lori Hill and Janet Deverell were performed.

 

Angels and Saints at Soho
Jessica Townsend’s play, Angels and Saints, which took its first tentative peek at the world at a meeting of Southwest Scriptwriters, is currently being performed at the Soho Theatre in London every evening at 8.45pm until 17 June. ‘An exceptionally good play, directed with zealous care… in a thrilling theatrical chemistry,’ Jeremy Kingston, The Times.

 

Have-a-Go Hero hits Edinburgh
Following his success with Touchy Feely in the New Vic, Tim Massey is taking his play Have-a-Go Hero to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a cast from UWE. It will be performed at Old St Paul’s Church Hall from 13 to 19 August. Prior to that, it will be performed at the Alma Tavern in Bristol, probably from 26 to 29 July. Tim would like to thank everyone who has sent him congratulations on Touchy Feely.

 

Moonshadow a success at the Alma
Steve Hennessy’s play Moonshadow enjoyed a very successful run at the Alma Tavern a few weeks ago. Last year, Steve’s Stepping Out Theatre Company won the Rosalind Carlin Award in recognition of its groundbreaking work in mental health.

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