TalkFest at the Tron 2014
Monday 31 March to Saturday 5
April 2014
Tron Theatre, Glasgow
TalkFest at the Tron was a week of workshops, rehearsed and unrehearsed readings and masterclasses expertly led by Scotland's leading playwrights and theatre-makers.
The Readings
La Clé by Lesley Hart, directed by
Alison Peebles
Tuesday 1 April, 7.45pm.
Performed by Alison Peebles and Elexi Walker.
Two women, worlds apart but locked together - by secrets, by sex,
by handcuffs, whips and bondage straps - struggle to break free of
each other. If each had their way, the other wouldn't exist. They
certainly wouldn't want to meet like this...
I had hoped for... I fantasised a handshake - a good firm
grip. And a smile. I had pictured a smile. You're not smiling, are
you?
When their two worlds collide - twice, ten years apart -
everything they think and feel and want changes forever. But at
what cost?
Lesley Hart was a New Playwrights Award recipient
in 2011. Lesley Hart is an actor as well as a
playwright.
Close Encounters - 5 Billion Years by
Jim Bay and The Bedding Tunes by Nuala
O'Sullivan
Tuesday 1 April, 8.30pm.
Performed by Johnny Austin, George Docherty, Janette Foggo
and Helen McAlpine.
Peter Arnott and a team of actors will encounter two new plays by Jim Bay and Nuala O'Sullivan in a live experiment. During the day, the actors immediate first responses to the unseen texts as they unfold will be used to find each play's strengths and weaknesses. Peter will then compile extracts from both plays to be presented on the same night, bringing the audience into this close encounter with new writing.
Descent by Linda Duncan
McLaughlin, directed by Allie Butler
Wednesday 2 April, 8pm.
Performed by Elaine C Smith, Barrie Hunter, Kirstin McLean.
What makes you 'you'? Your thoughts, your loves, your experiences,
your memories? What happens, then, if you begin to lose
them...? Descent is about one couple's struggle to hold on to
each other in the face of the terrible force of dementia. Can love
survive?
Linda Duncan McLaughlin was a New Playwrights Award recipient in 2013. Linda is based in Glasgow and has been an actor for 20 years.
Rachel's House written and directed by Nicola
McCartney
Thursday 3 April, 7.45pm.
Performed by Paul Cunningham, Mary Gapinski, Jenny Hulse, Anne
Lacey, Louise Ludgate, Helen McAlpine, Adura Onashile.
A work-in-progress based on the true stories of eight women
leaving the US criminal justice system. Over the past three years
Scottish playwright Nicola McCartney spent time
working with the women of Rachel's House, a remarkable recovery
community in Columbus, Ohio, which serves women leaving prison. It
has an 86% success rate of non-recidivism. She heard their stories
and followed their battles with addiction and despair. Not everyone
made it. There will be a Q&A after the reading. You can
find out more about Rachel's House and their work here.
Nicola McCartney, originally from Belfast, is an
award-winning writer and director, based in Scotland.
The Sin Eaters by Ronan O'Donnell,
directed by Michael Emans
Friday 4 April, 7.45pm.
Performers include Iain Robertson, Stewart Porter, Anne Lacey,
Kirsty Mackay, Jimmy Chisholm, James Mackenzie.
The Scottish Gothic is awakened in this haunting tale of
religious fundamentalism and sexual mania. Set during the
Covenanter uprising of 1679, fanatic, Silas Johnston, tormented by
lust for his servant lass seeks out martyrdom. Meanwhile a dead
heretic posts 'instructions' to schoolmaster Gabriel Riddell who is
seduced by ideas of escape.
Ronan O'Donnell is a playwright based in Scotland
whose work has been staged by the Traverse Theatre, LLT and
Arches/Theatre of Imagination, amongst others.
Mother Courage
translated by Tom Leonard, directed by Tam Dean Burn
Saturday 5 April, 7.45pm.
Performed by Anne-Marie Adriansen, Gary Lewis, Camille Marmie,
Paul McCole, Aly McCrae, Davey McKay, Anita Vettesse, Benny
Young.
Mother Courage by Bertolt Brecht is the great anti-war
play of the twentieth century. In Tom Leonard's
new translation a Glasgow mother follows the war that never ends
with her multinational family in tow. In partnership with AyeWrite! Tom
Leonard is a Scottish poet, writer and critic.
The Workshops
Stage to Page
Guest: Fiona Sturgeon Shea (Creative Director of Playwrights'
Studio, Scotland)
Monday 31 March, 6.30 - 10pm.
Stage to Page is a voluntary collective of writers, directors and
actors who meet monthly to conduct short public workshops of scenes
from brand new plays. This lively exploration of new writing is an
opportunity for writers to be actively involved in an exciting,
short workshop process, hear their work being read and get feedback
from directors, actors and audiences. Find out about submission
guidelines or come along on the night to join in or just
observe the process from page to stage!
Script Surgeries
Thursday 3 April, 3 - 5pm.
Written a play and looking for some advice on how to take it to
the next draft? The script surgeries will be half hour, one-to-one
sessions with George Aza-Selinger (Literary
Manager at National Theatre of Scotland), Isabel Wright
(playwright) and Frances Poet (playwright and
dramaturg).
Here and Now: Where a play begins with David
Harrower
Friday 4 April, 5pm. Places available through prior application
only. Tickets £3.
Join award-winning playwright, David Harrower
(Blackbird, Knives in Hens, Ciara) to
explore where a play begins. David Harrower
is one of Playwrights' Studio's Associate Playwrights.
David Harrower lives and writes in Glasgow.
A Playwright's Guide to Timewasting with Douglas
Maxwell
Saturday 5 April, 12pm.
Douglas Maxwell (Decky Does A Bronco, A Respectable Widow Takes To Vulgarity, Promises Promises) shares his process of selecting, developing and selling the right idea - and some survival techniques for when it becomes clear that you're wasting your time on the wrong one. An inspirational lecture that gets you away from your desk for about two hours.
Douglas Maxwell is a playwright currently based in Glasgow and his plays have been performed around the world.
Playwright (etc.) with Oliver
Emanuel
Saturday 5 April, 2.30pm.
Join playwright, dramaturg and adapter, Oliver
Emanuel (The Adventures of Robin Hood,
Dragon, Titus), for a practical workshop on where
ideas come from and how to balance the different roles inherent
within the catch-all title of 'playwright' in the 21st
Century.
Oliver Emanuel is a playwright who also writes
for radio.
The Value of the Local: writing for a specific theatre
with Clare
Duffy
Saturday 5 April, 2.30pm.
This masterclass with award-winning playwright, Clare
Duffy (Money: The Game Show, Crossings,
ANA) will explore writing theatre-specific drama. Writers
will then be contacted by Playwrights' Studio prior to the
workshop.
Clare Duffy is a playwright and director. She is
currently Associate Playwright at Playwrights' Studio, Scotland and
Artist In Residence at Summerhall Arts Centre in Edinburgh.
TalkFest is Playwrights' Studio's professional and public
workshop programme. TalkFest takes place at the Edinburgh Festival
(at the Traverse and Fringe Central) and at various locations
throughout the year. It includes script development workshops,
readings, skills' workshops and masterclasses with Scotland's
leading playwrights and theatre-makers.
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