Sussex Playwrights suspended face to face meetings during the lockdown April 2020 – September 21.
We checked in with a podcast of a previous meeting, and then an online Zoom meeting on January 3rd 2021.
There followed a quiet period where although we did not meet either in person or online, we continued to celebrate Sussex Playwrights’ members’ and friends’ successes via our Facebook Page.
Do check out the Sussex Playwrights Facebook Page to see some of our reports.
March 2020 report
Actor/writer members performed extracts from their own solo plays, followed by conversation with Philippa and the group about their writing and performance practice.
Janet Behan’s ‘Why Shouldn’t I Go?’ tells the stories of three very different Irishwomen who share one thing in common, religion and the impact it has had on their lives.
Robert Cohen’s ‘Something Rotten’ premiered at the Barnstaple Fringe Theatrefest, and went on to win an Argus Angel award at the 2016 Brighton Fringe.
Simon Jenner, playwright, poet and prolific and tireless reviewer of theatre in London and Sussex, gave an overview of the thirty or so productions he’s seen and reviewed in 2020 alone!
All the best, everyone – please do keep writing, listening, watching and talking everything to do with creating new drama for stage, screen, radio and internet. Hope to see you soon.
Philippa Hammond, chair
Thomas Everchild, secretary
January report
We kicked off our 2020 with new writing, a glass of wine and great conversation with Sussex Playwrights.
Our guest, actor Heather-Rose Andrews, had just returned from her Christmas in New York where she performed Sam Chittenden’s adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, to audience and critical acclaim.
Heather was in conversation with Philippa discussing the business of adaptation, re-imagining a classic work for the stage, and performing in an iconic New York venue to great reviews.
And James Alexander Allen presented a reading by Tristan Woolf and Kevin Cherry from his latest script We Can Be Villains for discussion and analysis.
If you’d like to bring a short piece for a scratch reading on a club night, email Philippa Hammond chair@sussexplaywrights.co.uk
Kick off a dramatic autumn with Sussex Playwrights
Kick off a dramatic autumn with the next Sussex Playwrights meeting this Sunday September 1st – all welcome.
Our special guests had all just returned from the Edinburgh experience, with audience and critical acclaim to their credit!
We discussed their work producing, writing and performing new drama at the Fringe.
Magician, comedian, actor, writer, corporate presenter, paranormal sceptic, bon viveur Paul Zenon discussing
Trust Me!
‘The master at work …’ Must See Show [Fringe Review]
Review
Different Theatre – Writer, producer, director, actor Sam Chittenden discussing
Sary
‘a beautiful piece of theatre, crafted with elegance and passion …’ [Fringe Review]
Review
Metamorphosis
‘Assiduously constructed and impressively acted, Different Theatre’s female-oriented Metamorphosis rings with a new voice …’ [A Younger Theatre]
Review
Bite-Size Plays – Producer and driving force behind this Brighton and Edinburgh phenomenon, Nicolas Brice discussing and performing with Philippa a short play from the menu; ‘Vintage’, by Lucy Kaufman.
The Big Bite Size Breakfast Show
‘a winning formula for good plays … guaranteed good theatre.’ [The British Theatre Guide], shortlisted for the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award
Writers’ Night
Sussex Playwrights was established originally to read and discuss writers’ plays.
Now we’ve re-established it as a great place for writers, performers, producers and makers of new stage, screen, audio and online drama, we’re going to be weaving this idea back into our monthly meetings schedule over the next few months. We’ll be keeping the mix of networking, special guests and guest performances too. Monologues, dialogue, sketches, screenplays – we’ll be inviting writers to come along with short examples of your writing to be read and discussed on Writers’ Nights.
August 2019’s meeting was a Writers’ Night.
We featured playwright and poet Simon Jenner, in discussion about his work with a reading of his first short play Stemming the Flow, an encounter between Byron and Keats, with Simon as Byron, Russell Shaw as Keats and Philippa Hammond as the Doctor, a reading by Simon of his latest piece My Shit Year and some in depth group discussion on the writing and reading of the works.
We’ll be featuring more play readings over the autumn and winter – please let us know if you have a piece you would like to propose for a reading at a meeting.
Philippa chair@sussexplaywrights.co.uk
Sussex Playwrights Summer Party: ‘Achievements’
The Fringe is nearly over for another year – time to gather and talk about what we saw, performed and reviewed over a month of theatre, performance, artists, open houses, music, comedy, dance …
We also featured a theme of writing on film, and we focussed on the various film productions that are happening at the moment and some that have been to Cannes this year.
Special guest producer/director Howard J Ford introducing his new family film Adventure Boyz
Special guest Justin Hayward discussing the success of the new film script Z.APP which he is developing in collaboration with screenwriter James Alexander Allen
