Postgraduate playwrights team up with Leeds Grand young actors

Students from the School’s MA Writing for Performance and Publication course have teamed up Leeds Actors in Training (LAIT) to present a showcase of four original scripts inspired by the theme Truth.

Charlotte Dalrymple, Tilly Devine, Ben Erwin and Karen Richardson are the successful playwrights who have been selected to work with LAIT through Leeds Grand Theatre‘s Grand Writers Platform – a new opportunity for early-career playwrights to respond to a brief, create a treatment, and have their scripts workshopped and produced by a professional creative team.

LAIT is a training programme for young actors aged between 18 and 25, run by the education unit attached to Leeds Grand and Leeds City Varieties.  The plays will be cast from those currently on the programme, and directed by professionals Lizi Patch and Matt Harper-Hardcastle.

"The Grand Writers Platform is a wonderful opportunity for student playwrights to work with  professional directors and some of the most talented young actors coming out of Leeds.  It's an imaginative concept that I will hope will lead to further collaborations between the University, Leeds Grand and the City Varieties." explains MA Course Leader Garry Lyons.

Dalrymple’s Chop Wood, Carry Water is inspired by real-life events that humorously take on anti-natalism and the ability to sue your own parents; Nine, by Tilly Devine, unveils the unbeknownst connections of four strangers through a punchy piece of spoken word; Erwin’s By the Tree Stump reveals what happens between two best friends when one of them discloses the truth about their identity; and We’ll Meet Again by Richardson is a not-so-distant piece of science fiction exploring her family’s experience of Alzheimer’s.

Truth will be performed at Seven Arts, Leeds, on Thursday 4th and Friday 5th July at 7.30pm. Tickets can be booked online at sevenleeds.co.uk

Find out more about the School's courses and creative partnerships at ahc.leeds.ac.uk/performance/