Our final season of 2007 starts next Tuesday, 6 November. All meetings take place in the function room upstairs at the Famous Royal Naval Volunteer pub, 17-18 King Street, BS1 4EE. Ask at the bar when buying a drink if you need directions to the meeting. Everyone attending meetings pays £1. You can find an up-to-date list of the dates, times and locations of our forthcoming programme on the Diary page of our website.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007 at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 13 November 2007 at 7.30pm: Key Moments with Andy Graham
Whether you’re writing for the stage, TV, radio or film, Key Moments are an important part of any script. Southwest Scriptwriters’ chair Andy Graham follows his popular talk in September on creating characters with a look at how to heighten the tension in your work by developing key dramatic points. Please bring a pen and paper as the session will be practical from the start.
Tuesday, 20 November 2007 at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 27 November 2007 at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 4 December 2007 at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 11 December 2007 from 8pm: Christmas Drinks in The Volly
Join us in the bar at the Naval Volunteer for a festive drink.
University of Lies by Peter Kesterton, BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, 2.30pm, 27 November
Peter Kesterton’s second BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play of 2007 — his drama Heads You Win, Tails I Lose was broadcast in February — airs at 2.30pm on Tuesday, 27 November.
A very early draft of University of Lies was given a reading at a Southwest Scriptwriters meeting earlier this year, and feedback from the group helped Pete when it came to writing a subsequent draft for the BBC.
Plays for the Pro Cathedral
Group members Bruce Fellows and Adrian Harris are two of six playwrights from Bristol and the South West offering a mix of gritty, surreal, elegiac and surreal short plays at The Old Pro Cathedral, Park Place, Clifton, BS8 1RJ from Friday, 30 November until Sunday, 2 December at 7.30pm nightly.
Writing partners and Southwest Scriptwriters members Lesley Bown and Ann Gawthorpe have drawn on their experience as prolific playwrights in penning a new volume in the Teach Yourself Books series.
‘Teach Yourself Writing a Play is designed for would-be writers of every level and for all types of motivation. Whether writing for the specific needs of an amateur drama group, for a community event, a political campaign or simply for personal or professional development, this is a practical yet informative guide to the craft of playwriting. It offers guidance on the creative principles of scripts, characters, plot, structure and dialogue, and explains the principles of staging and stage directions. It further offers advice on how to write for a variety of different situations, for every age and ability, and according to specific genres — particularly those often preferred by amateur groups, such as pantomime and musical theatre. Each chapter offers a selection of practical exercises to try, and there are plenty of further resources and advice for all those who might wish to take their creative talent forwards to a more professional level.’
Teach Yourself Writing a Play by Lesley Bown and Ann Gawthorpe at Amazon.co.uk
24 Hour Plays: The Red Bull Sessions
Younger members (or members’ younger relatives) might want to take part in ‘the ultimate theatrical challenge’:
‘If you’re 18-25, passionate about acting, writing, directing or producing, and live in Bristol, we’ll give you just 24 hours to prove your talent…
‘…and invite loads of people to watch your work.
‘24 Hour Plays: The Red Bull Sessions is the ultimate theatrical challenge, produced in conjunction with The Old Vic New Voices, London. There will be five short plays written, directed, rehearsed and performed within 24 hours. The energy, courage, commitment and stamina required of the cast and creative teams guarantees one of the most exciting evenings of theatre… and could see participants being selected to take part in 24 Hour Plays New Voices event at the Old Vic in March.’
The event is planned to start at 1am on Sunday, 18 November at the Hen and Chicken in Bedminster.
Blood and Water Screenwriter Required
Bradford on Avon-based director/producer Roger Pyne has produced three period costume dramas at an amateur level and is now planning a low-budget sci-fi feature aimed at the DVD market and perhaps American cable TV. He has a story that needs developing into a screenplay and is looking for a writer keen to work in a team of creative people.
Blood and Water is a human drama/tragedy and there are no aliens, laser guns or star fighters. Roger offers the following short synopsis:
‘This is a story of love against the bleak background of space. A story of the ultimate sacrifice man can make for another human being. The crew of a spacecraft on a return journey from Mars discover there is only sufficient water for a few of them to survive and they will only survive if the others are “terminated” for the sake of the few.
‘Neil, the flippant captain with style but no career prospects falls in love with Veronnika, a scientist returning to Earth after a spell on Mars. His ultimate sacrifice is to donate all of his blood, every last drop, and his life to his lover and their unborn child.’