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For the last three months, Sgript Cymru, the national company for new stage writing in Wales, has been working with local people in Swansea as part of its Arts Council of Wales Lottery funded Community Writer scheme. Under the guidance of up-and-coming playwright, Clare Duffy, as well as Sgript Cymru’s own artistic team, local writers have been working at Swansea’s Grand Theatre and Swansea University Department of Adult and Continuing Education on a regular basis. Sessions have also been held in both Welsh and English at Carmarthen College, Llanelli and at Gorseinon College, Swansea where the focus has been mainly on young people trying their hand at writing a complete stage play perhaps for the very first time. This week sees the culmination of the residency in Swansea with an event at The Dylan Thomas Centre between Thursday January 17th and Saturday January 19th. Sgript Xplosure! is the sixth event of its kind that Sgript Cymru has organised and is a mini-festival of workshops and readings, which are of interest to all those with an enthusiasm for writing in performance and the theatre. The main focus of this Sgript Xplosure! is to act as a showcase for much of the work developed during the residency. Therefore, local people will have the chance to see and hear their work being read and staged by professional actors and experienced theatre directors in special script-in-hand presentations. In addition, young playwrights who have participated in the scheme have been encouraged to submit their work not only to Sgript Cymru, but also to The Royal Court Theatre in London who are producing their biennial Young Writers’ festival in April 2002. In some cases, this Sgript Xplosure! will offer a preview of the work of young playwrights, before they hit the stages of the West End in a few months time. One of the writers emerging during this scheme is 25 year old Tracy Harris from Morriston in Swansea whose play “Past Away” so impressed the artistic team of Sgript Cymru that it is being presented in its entirety on Friday, January 18th at 8.30pm. Displaying a distinctive theatrical vision and a strong personal voice, Tracy’s play looks at a family that is falling apart after the death of the father and how sexual and sibling rivalries are undercurrents to a battle for “the truth”. Saturday, January 19th sees Sgript Cymru present “Leslie’s Electric Video” by another young writer, Rob Evans from Tredegar. Starting at 8pm, this is a wickedly funny farce, which shows how things have changed for Leslie since his ex-lover Bobby has “made it” as the new weatherman on TV, started receiving threats relating to a dodgy video and their beloved pooch Rex has died. Also on Saturday, January 19th, there is the culmination of acclaimed director, Firenza Guidi’s work with ten writers entitled “Text: Destination in Performance”. Firenza has pioneered a new way of developing writing for performance that explores diverse forms and styles of writing – monologue, prose, poetic narrative, verse and rap – as a starting point. These will be performed in an innovative and thought-provoking way in various different spaces at The Dylan Thomas Centre from 6pm. All these projects are a small part of Sgript Cymru’s ongoing commitment to developing the best contemporary writing for the stage in Wales through uncovering fresh and distinctive voices from a diverse range of sources across the length and breadth of Wales. For more information on Sgript Xplosure! 6 @ Swansea and the work of Sgript Cymru in general, call us on 029 2023 6650. |
| Sgript Cymru web site: |
| Bill Hopkinson, Sgript Cymru e-mail: |
Tuesday, January 8, 2002 |
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