Members’ and visitors’ news included:

Sophie Methuen-Turner and Sascha Cooper discussed Cyclone, the onstage audio drama at the Old Dojo, Chichester

Philippa Hammond, Sophie and Sascha are also appearing in the One Fell Swoop Shakespeare drama festival – we only learn what play and characters we’re doing close to the date of performance! Discussing the practicalities of script-in-hand performance.

Discussion around the business and craft of creating murder mystery and roleplay scripts.

Members’ and visitors’ news included:

Brighton Theatre of the Air’s latest audio drama project.

Phil and Nick’s new play Sheep Love to Die coming up at the Eastbourne Printers’ Playhouse.

John Lawrenson’s new film project on a pensioners’ fight club.

Wayne Liversedge’s film Edge of Insanity is winning film festival awards.

We discussed the plays Sussex Playwrights Reviews had reviewed at the Brighton Fringe, including Who Is Number One and The Dreams of Salvador Dali.

And a discussion around the Seven Plots and the Hero’s Journey as writer’s tools.

We hosted an evening of Brighton Fringe production previews, with extracts and discussions with the visiting companies:

The Dreams of Salvador Dali by Tim Coakley, directed by Murray Hecht

The Last by Sam Chittenden, directed by Jeanette Eddisford

Who is Number One? by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, directed by Brian Mitchell

Sussex Playwrights Reviews appear on this site

Featured this meeting: Robert Cohen gave a reading from his newly published novel Architecture for Beginners – two childhood friends reunited and an architect is drawn into a retired football star’s world. He then discussed how the book came to be, inspired by personal experience…

Robert will be guesting at the Kemp Town bookshop and appearing in Who Is Number One in the May Fringe, then in The Madness of King George at Brighton Open Air Theatre in July.

Thomas discussed his workshop on Writing Monologue for Hastings Writers Group at the Regency Rooms.

Thomas then led the conversation round ‘how do you create your characters?’ involving writers, actors and drama makers.

Members’ and visitors’ news:

Brighton Theatre of the Air’s latest upcoming audio drama projects.

Neil Noon discussed the New Views playwriting event organised by the National Theatre.

Thomas and Philippa preparing to present another season of their Acting From the Script workshop programme at the New Venture Theatre.

We read an extract from Elysa’s new work in progress, The Riddle – an intriguing mystery featuring nuns, a medium, a stolen painting, possibly steampunk, timeslips … Potentially a BBC radio drama series?

And Phil Tong presented an extract from his full length play. The Furrow, inspired by a Paula Rego painting Paula’s Children, was a runner up for the Mercury Prize. A modern Greek-style tragedy in very short, punchy one liners with scope for a great soundscape as a massive unseen household prepares for a big wedding.

Extracts from two works in progress read and discussed at the meeting:

John Lawrenson’s The Big Interview

Dave Patchett’s Shillingworth, a mysterious tale of magic realism in the Brigadoon / Twilight Zone tradition.

Drinks, nibbles, news and good conversation on:

Jenny Rowe has a short story The Yew’s Embrace accepted for publication, following success in the US Weird Christmas competition.

Discussion on casting actors for your stage, audio, film etc script – the relationship between writer, director, producer and actor – the perennial paid work question, how the number of actors matter.

News of the Raindance producers’ course.

BBC Radio Repertory, getting your work in front of a producer.

Self-publishing, marketing and promoting your work.

Writer mentoring and teaching.

The lack of a brochure or app for the upcoming Brighton Fringe Festival.

Mark Burgess’ playwriting course.

The importance of networking for everyone who works in drama and the concept that it’s not what you know, it’s not who you know – it’s who knows you that matters.

A reading of Thomas’s short story The Haunted Mansion.

Next meeting in February – no January meeting.