Tabloid journalists, soldiers and Welsh writers take up Dirty Protest Theatre’s challenge for its newest production.
It's 2011 and the smell of scandal is in the air.
A 24-hour news cycle is obsessed with the underhand and the corrupt. The tabloids, the politicians, the police, the private investigators - but who is writing the plays about it?
Well, Dirty Protest will be this summer.
Celebrating its fourth birthday the Welsh theatre company returns with a night of new plays all dedicated to Scandal.
We have five established writers and one cherrypopper on board to write six new short plays and give their own take on the topic of scandal. What they chose to write about and the angle they chose to take, well that's just up to them.
From a former 3am writer for the Daily Mirror who will be writing her first ever play to hotly tipped writer and former soldier Foster Marks, the plays promise to be varied and relevant to a summer where scandal has hung in the air.
With director/writer Matthew Bulgo first production as the the newest member of the Dirty Protest theatre company, he has come up with a great set of writers who can all bring an interesting angle to the topic of scandal.
Matthew says he is excited to get the writers on board for his first outing as a Dirty Protest member.
Fresh from his success with The Sanger, ex TA soldier Foster Marks who has had tours of duties in Afghanistan, will be writing for Dirty Protest before working on more film and television projects.
He will be joined by Llanelli-born Aled Roberts, an award-winning playwright who is currently writing his first novel, and apparently watching cricket in his pants.
Lisa Parry, Katherine Chandler and Sian Owen will make up the rest of the established writers, a trio who have an extensive back catalogue in playwriting and who are all looking forward to the challenge of writing a short play to be performed in the intimate space of Milgi’s Yurt.
They will all share the stage with cherrypopper Steph Busari, who as a Daily Mirror trainee worked in Cardiff and Belfast before moving to London to work on the paper and contribute to sections like 3am. Steph is now one of CNN’s online team and Dirty Protest Theatre is looking forward to her take on the theme and her first play.
Renowned for putting established writers on the same stage as absolute newcomers, the Cardiff-based theatre company has been successful in kickstarting a few careers and opening up the theatre world to novice writing.
Two performances planned for Milgi's Yurt, Cardiff on Thursday August 18. One at 7.30pm and second performance at 9pm.
Tickets can be bought at Milgi from 6pm on the night.
Biog on writers
Katherine Chandler
Writer for: Theatre Nan'og, Spectacle Theatre, Blue Angel Films, Literature Wales funded Young Writing Squad and the Yellow Project.
Commissions - Theatre:
The Bankrupt Bride - Theatre Nan'og (toured Wales and London)
About Last Night and 43 Ton Row - Spectacle Theatre
We Need Bees - Theatre Nan'og (touring Spring and Summer 2012)
Commissions - Film
Miss Conception - Blue Angel Films. Starred Heather Graham, Tom Elis and Will Mellor!
Currently on a seed commission for NTW and her play 'Shoot Doris Day' has been chosen by Pentabus Theatre out of over 250 scripts as their We Are Here winning script, pencilled in for a production slot in 2012.
Aled Roberts
Llanelli born Aled has been writing since he was 15, when he was a winner of Bristol Old Vic New Voices Competition (Mrs. Portor in Living Walls of Jet, performed at Bristol New Vic Theatre).
Won Cameron Mackintosh Award for New Writing for Graceland (winner of the Oxford New Writing Festival) and had rehearsed readings at the Soho Theatre of two plays, Too Big for One and Mog. In 2006 he was an awarded a commission from Film Agency Wales to turn Graceland into a screenplay.
More recently a short play, Sell, was given a rehearsed performance by the National Theatre and a full-length play, The Finding of Pat Arnold, was performed by Sherman Cymru as part of the Egin:Springboard Festival at Chapter. I currently live in Leeds and am completing a first novel. I enjoy watching cricket in my pants.
Foster Marks
Foster began his writing career in film, numerous feature film scripts followed and through the occasional coincidences of hard work, talent and blind luck he began to carve out a name for himself as a sharp and creative film writer and script doctor. While never being able to write full time Foster continued to draw from his life and work experiences and in the following years secured seventeen commissions and options from established UK and international film producers. I
n search of new material Foster joined the Territorial Army and specialised as a radio operator, going on to serve two tours of Helmand province, Afghanistan. His experience there inspired him to write his first stage play ‘The Sanger’. On his return to the UK he completed the first draft and submitted it to Sherman Cymru who picked it up for development and invited Foster to join their advanced writers programme, during this time he was also selected by the BBC Writers Room to attend their New Welsh writers workshop. Working with his Sherman mentor Foster developed his Theatre writing and new drafts of the ‘The Sanger’ until June 2011 when ‘The Sanger’ was produced as part of the Sheman Theatre's RAW season. Foster has since completed his second play and is working on new film and television projects.
Lisa Parry
Lisa’s piece Butterfly Fugue was performed as a rehearsed reading as part of Sherman Cymru’s Egin: Springboard festival. She was recently named as a winner in Mokita Grit’s playwriting competition, a finalist in the Internationalists’ playwriting competition, and a finalist in the inaugural Ronald Duncan award.
Play credits include: Fairy Steps (Bootleg), March SW3 (Arcola, as part of Miniaturists 23), Waterbaby (Martin E. Segal, NYC), Inside A Grave (Bridewell), Second Life (Tara), Happy Birthday Luke (Tara), Carpet and Floorboards (Tara), The Giving of Flowers (Theatre 503, later at Sherman Cymru as part of ScriptSlam), From Brum to Manhattan (Theatre 503).
A previous finalist in the King’s Cross New Writing Award, Lisa is currently developing two full-length pieces, having received funding from the Arts Council and the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust. She is also a founding member of Agent 160 Theatre Company. For further information, visit www.lisaparry.com.
Sian Owen
Siân Owen was the winner of the Oxford Playhouse New Playwriting Competition 2010 with her play "Restoration". Short plays of Siân's have featured in various incarnations of PLAYlist at Theatre 503 and PLAYlist: at Latitude. Her play “The Turn” was recently featured in Word:Play 4 for Box of Tricks theatre company at the Arcola, London.
She also took part in the National Theatre/Tŷ Newydd Habit of Art Writing Project. She has attended the Writers Development Course at Sherman Cymru and is a graduate of the prestigious MA Writing Performance programme at Goldsmiths.
Siân has a passion for telling the stories that aren’t often told and for reaching people who may not usually go to the theatre.
www.dirtyprotesttheatre.co.uk For information contact Claire Hill at press@dirtyprotesttheatre.co.uk
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