503Studio: Zinnie Harris

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503Studio Masterclass: Beginnings and Openings

In this masterclass, Zinnie Harris will explore how to how to jump start the action in an opening scene, to set up a world, entice the audience and load the situation so the rest of the play has momentum and tumbles out.

THIS COURSE IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT.
To be added to our waiting list, please sign up here (please note that some places have been held off sale to prioritise Share the Drama beneficiaries – see below)

Thanks to DCMS Cultural Recovery Fund and 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 Autumn 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. You can view what we currently are able to offer on our Accessibility page. If you would rather discuss any access requirements and how we can accommodate them prior to booking, please get in touch with us.

Time: 10am – 12.30pm

Running time of workshop: 2.5 hours – delivered online. 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.

Zinnie Harris is a multi-award winning playwright, screenwriter and theatre director.

Her plays include: THE DUCHESS (of Malfi) (Royal Lyceum Theatre, Citizens Theatre 2019, short-listed for Best New Play Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2020); Meet Me At Dawn (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh International Festival 2017 shortlisted for Best New Play Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2018); This Restless House (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 2016 then Edinburgh International Festival 2017, winner of Best New Play at the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2016, and shortlisted for Susan Smith Blackburn Award and UK Theatre Awards Best New Play); How To Hold Your Breath (Royal Court Theatre, 2015, winner of the Berwin Lee Award 2015); The Message and On The Watch (Tricycle Theatre, London, 2012); The Wheel (National Theatre of Scotland, 2011, joint winner of the 2011 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award and a Fringe First, short-listed for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award); The Panel (Tricycle Theatre, London 2010); The Garden (Traverse Theatre, 2009); Fall (Traverse Theatre, 2008) Solstice (RSC, 2005); Midwinter (RSC, 2004, winner of an Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for playwriting, and short-listed for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award); Nightingale And Chase (Royal Court, 2001); and Further Than The Furthest Thing (Royal National Theatre, Tron Theatre, which was winner of the Peggy Ramsay Playwriting Award, the John Whiting Award and a Fringe First award as well as being specially commended by the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and short-listed for the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright); and By Many Wounds (Hampstead Theatre, shortlisted for the Allied Domecq Award and the Meyer Whitworth Award).

Adaptations include Rhinoceros (Edinburgh International Festival); A Doll’s House (Donmar Warehouse); Master Builder (West Yorkshire Playhouse); and Miss Julie (National Theatre of Scotland, 2006).

Her screen writing includes two 90 minute dramas for Channel 4 (Richard Is My Boyfriend and Born With Two Mothers), and episodes for the BBC1 Drama Spooks. She was lead writer and Series Creator for the BBC1 Agatha Christie adaption, Partners In Crime and recently wrote and directed the short film, A Glimpse (winner of Best Short Drama at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival)

As a theatre director she has directed numerous main stage productions for the RSC, the Traverse Theatre, Royal Lyceum Theatre, and the Tron theatre. She won Best Director for the Cats 2017, for her direction of Caryl Churchill’s A Number at the Lyceum Theatre, and recently directed The Duchess (of Malfi) to much acclaim at the Citizens Theatre and Lyceum Theatre.

Zinnie is currently an Associate Director at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and Professor of Playwriting and Screenwriting at the University of St Andrews.