Anyone Can Write performances this eveining

This evening sees the work of several local writers premiere on the stage at Hall for Cornwall.  The six plays selected from nearly 40 submitted have been handed to a small cast of professional actors under the expert directing team of Tim Brinkman and Anna Coombes.  This promises to be a great evening that celebrates Cornish writing talent, with live music and a series of short plays covering many subjects.  Tickets cost just £6 (Concessions £5) and can be bought on the door from Box Office or online (Click HERE).

Plays selected for performance at HfC

Following the huge volume of submitted scripts at the conclusion of the Anyone Can Write project, 6 short plays have been selected for performance at Hall for Cornwall on May 4th.  The play names, and their authors, are listed below along with the cast of professional actors who will be bringing the scripts to life for the very first time.

I Hope It's Good by Donal Fogarty (Wadebridge Group)
Hell Hath No Fury by Rosemary Robinson (U3A Looe Group)
Playing Host by Katy Eddy (Richard Lander Student)
Nozy Parker by Pam Douglas (WI Group)
A Skinny Latte by Mary Ann Bloomfield (Youth Workers Group)
A Bit of a Picnic by Sarah Russell (WI Group)

Tickets to the performance are available now and cost £6 plus £1 Theatre Fund.

Book Tickets Online Today

The cast for the evening's performances are as follows:

• Mark Buffery
• Elaine Claxton
• Heidi Dorschler
• Dean Nolan
• Juliet Welch
• Kate Wilde

Anyone Can Write play premieres at HfC

One of the short plays written through the Anyone Can Write programme was premiered on stage at HfC yesterday afternoon.  With Cornwall's WI holding their conference here, we felt it was an excellent opportunity to stage one of the short plays written by one of their members who took part in the writing programme.

"On With the Show" was a hilarious short play written by Jane Curnow who was in the auditorium to see her play come to life.  It followed the course of a small committee meeting to decide the "theme" for their stall.  There was a hint of "Vicar of Dibley" about the proceedings and much of the humour clearly struck a chord with audience members who recognised aspects of the characters that will be familiar to many; the nervous, officious chairperson, the well intentioned "helpful" person willing to donate anything from a whistle to a racehorse and the inevitable committee member who forgets to switch off their mobile.

Alongside the important business of the meeting there was some sharply scripted and funny gossip, including the women who had "gone out" after "finding him on the internet".  This was the subject of much discussion as he was far too big for her, and grey!  Only after some clever double entendre do we discover they are talking about a greyhound, not a man off a dating site!

"On With the Show" had a cast of four actors, including Kate Edney who played Princess Jill in last year's panto at Hall for Cornwall.  Kate met up with Jane  before the play for a photo (above) and told her the actors had really enjoyed working with the script which had had them falling about with laughter.  It was certainly very well received by the WI.

Six other plays written through the Anyone Can Write programme will be staged at Hall for Cornwall on May 4th.  Tickets are now available (Click HERE).

ANYONE CAN WRITE has benefited from funding from FEAST and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. We are also grateful to our stakeholders, Cornwall Council and Arts Council, England, for their ongoing support.

Scripts pouring into HfC this week!

Hall for Cornwall has been inundated with scripts at the culmination of a year long writing project in Cornwall. “Anyone Can Write” was an initiative organised by HfC to encourage people from around the county to write their first piece of drama for the stage.

The scope of the project has been very great, reaching youth workers, community groups, students, and the WI. Each writing hub or group has had the support of a professional writer to assist them with the creative process as well as the support of their fellow participants. 

As the project draws to a close, completed scripts have been flooding into Hall for Cornwall’s offices with just over 40 scripts received at the time of writing. Hall for Cornwall’s Community and Education team have been delighted with the number of script submissions and are looking forward to working through all of this fresh material. All scripts will be reviewed by a panel of script readers and each writer will receive some useful feedback on their work to encourage further writing.

The four or five scripts that are considered to be the best of the project will be handed to a small cast of professional actors and will be staged as an evening of Cornish short plays at Hall for Cornwall on Tuesday 4th May. The evening promises to offer a variety of topics and themes as a new crop of Cornish writers will see their work come to life on the stage.

“Anyone Can Write” received support from FEAST and the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. Tickets for the performance are available from Hall for Cornwall now.

Everybody has a story; what’s yours?

On a cold and icy morning earlier this week an intrepid group of WI members gathered at the CFWI Conference Room in Thremilestone to take part in the first of 6 play writing sessions led by local playwright Paul Farmer. Theirs is the first of 6 community groups who over the coming 4 months will be learning techniques to help them write a 10 minute piece of theatre for the stage.

These workshops form the community element of a new Hall for Cornwall project called Anyone Can Write which is taking place from October 2009 to May 2010.

Isobel King Hall for Cornwall Projects Manager said:

“I was very lucky to sit in on the first of our community writing workshops. For this project we have been seeking out people who are just willing to have a go, no prior experience is necessary. Taking part in a project like this will be fun but there is also a degree of hard work. You also have to brave enough to share what you have written with others in the group and ultimately, if you write something to be performed, with a public audience.

The WI group were a really friendly group of ladies who I’m sure will support each other through the creative process. I look forward to dropping in to another of their sessions and hearing what they have written.”

About This Project

Anyone Can Write is about instilling skills, confidence and creativity into people who may never have thought of writing a play before. It was kickstarted in October with a week long workshop foccussing on writing for the stage which was led by Duncan Macmillan. Duncan won the Second Prize and the Writer-in-Residence Bursary at the inaugural Bruntwood Playwriting Competition for his play Monster, which was subsequently nominated in the Best New Play category at the MEN and TMA Theatre Awards. He was Pearson Playwright in Residence at Paines Plough and had written for the National Theatre Studio, Paines Plough and the Royal Exchange he has also had work staged at Theatre 503 and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (Afternoon Play).

The Anyone Can Write project is part funded by FEAST. FEAST is a new programme to make great art happen in Cornish villages and towns. The ambition is to touch and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds and generate a whole new wave of creative activity in our communities.

For more information on FEAST go to www.cornwallculture.co.uk/feast