North Cumbria Scriptwriters' projects before 2011

2010
Dream Department Trainee, by Martin Chambers
Top of the Tree, Bottom of the Garden, by Rick Thomas
Winter Escape, by Rachael Howard
Wordsworth Hearing, Connie Jensen
Howgill, by Jen Mattinson


2009

Ten Plays for Ten Years
To mark our 10th Anniversary, we cooperated with BBC Radio Cumbria to broadcast five, five-minute radio plays written by our members plus one which was to be the winner of a public competition, judged by Radio Cumbria.
We were surprised at the number of entries and delighted with the quality of the writing, but of course there could be only one winner.
This was Mr Robert Armitage from Ambleside, with his piece, 'Cultivating Cumbria'.
We recorded this piece with the help of our friends at Radio Cumbria, for inclusion on a CD of our work. Some of the pieces were selected for broadcast on Radio Cumbria during one winter week.
Due to its success, this became an annual event until 2014. Our thanks to Radio Cumbria and to Rick Thomas for hosting the recordings.


2009 BBC 5-minute radio plays:
Crowned Heads, by Martin Chambers
Eros and the Handbag, by Julia Newsome
Fifth Dimension, by Jenny Yates
The Last Pub in England, by Rick Thomas
Supply Teacher, by Carol Donockley




2008

Write Angles
With Arts Council and Allerdale Council funding, Write Angles 2008 started as workshops with professional directors and writers, and a public competition. These led to script-in-hand performances of works in progress by our members and the competition winner. These were directed by Daniel Bye of the Silvertongue Theatre in York and our own Ian Hinde.
The scripts were read/acted by local amateur actors. The audience, actors and directors were invited to discuss each piece with a view to ways to develop it further. A format emerged and the second and third performances were arranged to include four pieces about 15 minutes long, each immediately followed by discussion. This resulted in many useful ideas and was enjoyed by all who took part.
In April and June, the performances were at Theatre by the Lake in the Studio. In November it was at the Penrith Playhouse.

Workshop 
A script-writing workshop at Bowness on Solway Literary Festival, on ways to extend a script, was also a success.

A Blessed Release
This play by Martin Chambers, was performed by the Black Sheep Theatre Group as part of the Cumbria Darma Festival 2008, on 15 March in Grange over Sands.


2003

Mighty Oak
NCS member Martin Chambers was commissioned by the Nation Trust to write a play about Hardewicke Drummond Rawnsley, one of the founders of the Nation Trust. It was performed in the open air by the Keswick Theatre Club as part of the celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the acquisition by the Trust of Brandlehowe Park.

Acting Workshop
Led by Stefan Escreet and held in the Studio at Theatre by the Lake, the aim was to help writers to write for performance.

North Cumbria Scriptwriters' projects 2012

Two exciting opportunities came our way in  2012:

North Cumbria Scriptwriters and Penrith Players have worked together successfully on several occasions and we were thrilled to be invited to take part in 'Penrith Players' Monologue Festival'.
The plays, entitled 'One Voice', were produced at Penrith Players' Theatre at the end of August and the festival was a great success.
Visit Penrith Players at: http://www.penrithplayers.co.uk

In 2012, the market town of Wigton celebrated the 750th anniversary of the granting of its Market Charter.
Six of our members worked together on a script covering the major events in Wigton since 1262. This was our first attempt at team writing so we had lots to learn. The project proved worthwhile and we were delighted to have the play, entitled 'The Throstle's Nest', performed by Wigton Theatre Group at the John Peel Theatre, Wigton, in June.
Visit John Peel Theatre Group at: http://www.wigtontheatre.org

As this was the first time we had worked together on a play and because we found it so rewarding, Connie thought it would be interesting to share the experience with others. Follow the link to see what she had to say: http://conswords.blogspot.co.uk


BBC Radio Cumbria 5-minute radio plays 2012

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BBC Radio Cumbria 5-minute radio plays 2013

Send me a Postcard, by Martin Chambers
Interpub Polevaulting Competition, by Rachael Howard
Increase to 40, by Stephanie Robinson
?Adam, by Charlotte Coulthard
The Old Place, by Robin Acland



BBC Radio Cumbria 5-minute radio plays 2014 (only four this time)

20 Million Eggs, by Robin Acland
Mam, by Anne Ginty
The Memorial, by Kevan France
Yellow for the Sunshine, by Stephanie Robinson

On 17th January 2014 Rick’s play ‘Death and Glory’ was performed, script in hand, by members of the cast of the Theatre by the Lake’s Christmas production of ‘Swallows and Amazons’.  

It was followed by a post reading discussion and questions from the audience.

‘Death and Glory’  tells the story of Arthur Ransome and was very well received.

Congratulations Rick!

Sophia Atcha

Following on from her success in the 24:7 Theatre Festival, Sophia was approached to write a play in three days for the Manchester Library Theatre Company, New Script Night 2013.

Sophia accepted the challenge and wrote ‘The Calling’  which was selected for reading.

‘The Calling’ was produced by Danny Stewart.

Directed by Martha Salmon and the actor was Feroza Shah.

Congratulations Sophia

We look forward to hearing more about

‘The Calling’ soon

Welcome to North Cumbria Scriptwriters!

[This is our new on line presence. The original webpage at www.northcumbriascriptwriters.co.uk will disappear from the end of December 2015.]

We are a group of writers with a serious commitment to writing for performance on stage, screen and radio.

We are associated with the Theatre By The Lake (TBTL) in Keswick, Cumbria, UK.

Our members pay a small annual subscription and we meet on the last Thursday of the month (except December) usually at the Theatre by the Lake, but occasionally at other venues, for instance The Penrith Players Theatre.