Want to take your writing to the next level? Redrafting for Writers will enable early-career playwrights to develop their style, looking critically at their work in preparation for performance.
Each two hour session will provide tools and exercises for writers to go beyond their usual practice, providing them with a supportive and dynamic environment in which to test out their ideas. The course will touch on editing, dramaturgy, and how to redraft with actors and directors for performance.
There will be opportunities for writers to share their work and hear extracts read aloud; with peer-to-peer feedback and open discussion providing a basis for script development. No professional experience required – simply bring a copy of your own original script and get ready to redraft.
This course is led by director, playwright and THE STAGE columnist Phil Willmott.
Friday 4 May – Friday 8 June 8pm-10pm
£95
Phil Willmott is a multi-award winning director, artistic director, playwright, composer, librettist, teacher, dramaturg, arts journalist and actor. He trained as an actor at Rose Bruford in the 1980s and was made a fellow of the college in 2012. He is one of the busiest theatre writers in the UK and has been commissioned by Shakespeare’s Globe, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, the National Theatre Studio, Theatre Royal, Stratford East, The New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and for producers Adam Kenwright and Adam Spiegal. His plays include Encounter (Above the Stag) A Death at Price Waterhouse (Wandsworth Festival) Heaven knows I’m Morrissey Now (German Tour) His Indian Boyfriend (Phizzical Theatre, Leicester and Theatre Royal, Stratford East) Stealing the Scene and Mermaid Sandwich (BBC R4) and dramatisations of Wagner’s Ring Cycle Librettos, Homer’s Odyssey and La Morte D’Artur (The Scoop) Musicals include Princess Caraboo (Finborough) Lost Boy (Finborough Theatre and Charing Cross Theatre) Secret Love (National Tour) Once Upon a Time at The Adelphi (Liverpool, London and U.S.) and the widely and regularly revived Dick Barton Trilogy, Around The World In Eighty Days and Jason And The Argonauts. The adaptation of Lysistrata which he wrote with Germaine Greer was recently presented as part of the Almeida’s Greek Season starring Tamsin Greig. Many of his plays are published by Samuel French and Oberon Books.
Phil believes that everyone has a wealth of extraordinary stories to tell and over a series of talks, demonstrations and through practical exercises he gently guides students through the tried and tested techniques he’s designed to unlock the imagination and invent characters, devise scenarios, create dialogue and structure stories. Although his workshops specifically deal with playwriting skills the techniques can also be applied to the creation of short stories and even novels. All students need is a pad of paper, a pen, imagination and an open mind. Phil guarantees to get even the most tentative writer creating characters and dialogue within hours and to give the more experienced writers fail safe techniques to inspire them and free up the dreaded writers’ block!
