503Studio Spring 23: Write Your First Short Play

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503Studio: Write Your First Short Play

Five weekly Monday sessions from Monday 6 February to Monday 6 March, 7pm – 9.30pm. The sessions will take place over Zoom.

The short play can be one of the most exciting in dramatic writing – and is a great place to start if you’re just starting out. On this practical course, Kenny Emson will take you through all the essential elements of crafting a short play, leading to a sharing of work in the final week. This friendly workshop series will support writers to discover an idea for a short play or develop an existing one, with a focus on key craft elements such as character, story, dialogue and theatricality.

Please note we cannot commit to an ongoing dramaturgical relationship with any pieces that may develop on this course, or commit to a production. However, we will offer an open and honest discussion with all participants about possible next steps for their work, recommendations of other development opportunities that might be of benefit, and guidance to where their work may best be suited in terms of future engagement.

Thanks to our Share The Drama scheme, we want to make sure those of you who are struggling in the current climate can still take part in our Writers Programme. While we prioritise anyone who is long term unemployed and/or claiming benefits, we’re also offering subsidies if you’re in financial difficulty as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

To express interest in a bursary place through our Share The Drama scheme, please sign up here. If you would prefer to speak directly to a member of our team about your circumstance or to ask for more information about this scheme, please contact us.

If you have any access requirements, you can let us know here. If you would rather discuss any access requirements and how we can accommodate them prior to booking, please get in touch with us here.

Maximum class sizes are 14. A portion of spaces have been reserved for Share the Drama places.

To sign up for advanced booking for future iterations of the 503Studio: Writers Programme, please join the waiting list here.

Dates/Times: Mon 6th Feb (7-9.30pm); Mon 13th Feb (7-9.30pm); Mon 20th Feb (7-9.30pm); Mon 27th Feb (7-9.30pm); Mon 6th March (7-9.30pm).

Kenny Emson is a multi-award winning writer for stage and screen. He co-created, co-wrote and was associate producer on the BBC’s ground breaking multi-platform murder mystery The Last Hours of Laura K which earned him a BAFTA nomination in Digital Creativity and a number of other prestigious television and VFX awards nominations. He adapted Agatha Christies The Coming of Mr Quin for digital media which was BAFTA CYMRU nominated for Best Game. He was selected for the BBC Writers Academy in 2011 and has gone on to write episodes of Doctors and Eastenders. His plays include Rust (Bush Theatre) Plastic (Old Red Lion / Mercury theatre ) Terrorism (Bush Theatre) and Sirens (Mercury Theatre). He is a past winner of the Mercury Theatre playwriting prize, the Adopt a Playwright Award, the Adrienne Benham Award and has been shortlisted for both the Bruntwood and Papatango prizes. He currently runs the Mercury Theatre Writing programme.