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Aberystwyth Arts Centre New Writing group present The Town With No Traffic Wardens |
Thursday 19 April, 7.45pm. Is this the last resting place of Jack the Ripper? Anarchy rules in town with no traffic wardens. Mystery as blue shark found on road. DNA traps couple who fled B&B without paying. What do all these sentences have in common? They are all headlines in national newspapers about Aberystwyth news stories. The Aberystwyth Arts Centre Writing for Performance group has chosen, for their next showcase on Thursday 19th April, to explore the world of news in a small isolated town on the edge of the mountains and the sea. 

In 2011 Aberystwyth hit the headlines and was besieged with journalists and film crews. Why? Because it’s a town with no traffic wardens! As England erupted into riots – Wales news led with the number of dolphins in Cardigan Bay from a recent survey. What happens in a town where big events pass by unnoticed apart from on our TV screens and in the daily papers? Last October the group presented its’ first showcase of 9 new short plays Beginnings to a packed audience. It covered a range of subjects including job interviews, love-songs, sea monsters, cheese-based misunderstandings and virgin brides. The script-in-hand rehearsed readings involved 9 writers, 8 directors and 12 performers. For many writers in the group Beginnings was their first attempt at writing for theatre yet in December 201, 5 members of the Writing for Performance Group were selected to participate in the Sherman Cymru Spread The Word project with Aberystwyth Arts Centre. For the Town with No Traffic Wardens each writer has written a short play for the evening, the group has then worked collectively to piece the plays together and write additional material. The play will be updated and changed to include the latest headlines. The showcase is a script-in-hand rehearsed reading though it is planned to further develop the project later in the year. There will also be a Q&A session with the writers, the director and performers after the reading where members of the public can offer feedback on the plays and also offer any stories or points of view they might have about news in Aberystwyth. Sandra Bendelow who runs the Writing for Performance group for the Arts Centre said, “It promises to be an entertaining evening offering varied styles, some very funny stories, highly eccentric views of the world of news and quite provocative thoughts about life in a small community. The Town with No Traffic Wardens covers quite a range of subjects including an imaginative exploration of the motives behind the decisions to leave the town without traffic wardens and a look at the decisions local journalists and editors make every day on which stories to cover. When we began this project we didn’t know if we would find the material needed but Aberystwyth has offered up the most amazing stories every week alongside advertisements in local papers, letters to the editors, local campaigns which have all been used in the plays. All the writers have been on a little journey through the world of Aberystwyth in the last few months and we’re really looking forward to sharing it.” Tickets are £6.50 (£4.50). To book contact Aberystwyth Arts Centre ticket office 01970 62 32 32 or go online www.aber.ac.uk/artscentre. |
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Thursday, March 15, 2012 |
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