Writersroom 10

I had done it. Had my first professional radio play produced by the BBC!
— Rachel De-Lahay

In December 2010, Writersroom 10 was launched to support emerging theatre writers. Theatres across the UK were asked to nominate a writer. From these nominations we selected 10 writers to form a cohort who received a bursary, mentoring, workshops, masterclasses, and a showcase of original new plays at the Live Theatre, Newcastle - The Parade.

Five of these plays were then produced for The Verb on BBC Radio 3, and four were produced by Slung Low as site-specific digital theatre for the BBC/Arts Council online platform, The Space.

Watch 'The Parade' site-specific digital theatre below

The 2011/12 Writers

The Writersroom 10 scheme was launched in December 2010 as a new partnership programme for writers and theatres - marking the importance of theatre as the first home for many brilliant writers in the UK, and investing in writers and new theatre writing at an early stage.

The 10 winning writers and their partner theatres for 2011/12 were:

West Yorkshire Playhouse - Dawn King
Salisbury Playhouse - Kate Mitchell
Live Theatre - Paul Charlton
Bristol Old Vic - Penny Gunter
Library Theatre - Rebecca Prestwich
Lyric Theatre, Belfast - Seamus Collins
Tamasha - Amman Brar
Old Vic - Kenneth Emson
Bush Theatre - Rachel De-Lahay
Broadway, Barking - Jon O'Neill

Writersroom 10 writer Rachel Delahay blogs about having her first professional play produced by the BBC

Writers who were selected for the Writersroom 10 scheme 2011 talk about their journeys.

The 2014/15 Writers

The Writersroom 10 scheme was relaunched in 2013 at the Theatre Broadcast Conversation hosted by BBC Director General Tony Hall. The 10 winning writers were announced in April 2014:

Alice Birch - West Yorkshire Playhouse

Carol Vine - Brockley Jack

Ellie Stewart - Traverse Theatre

Frank McCabe – Greyscale

Matilda Ibini - Soho Theatre

Ian Townsend - Bolton Octagon

Joe White - Birmingham Rep

Lisa Jen Brown - National Theatre Wales

Mufaro Makubika - Nottingham Playhouse

Samuel E Taylor - Bristol Old Vic

The 10 writers joined a year-long development scheme and received a seed-commission of £1000, a BBC mentor to broaden their scriptwriting horizons and bring a fresh perspective to their work, the opportunity to develop new work for The Space and a programme of partnership events with theatres.

The Writersroom 10 judges were acclaimed writers Tim Price (The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning), Lucy Kirkwood (Chimerica, The Smoke), and Kate Rowland (BBC Creative Director, New Writing).

The Writersroom 10 2015 culminated in a live read-through at the Birmingham Rep in June 2015. Following this 4 of the scripts were commissioned by BBC Radio 3's 'The Verb'.

The 4 commissioned scripts for 'The Verb' were:

'Temples' by Joe White
'Turn Around' by Ian Townsend
'Did to me' by Lisa Jen Brown
'Tongues' by Frank McCabe

Read Joe White's blog about getting his first piece broadcast on Radio

The Parade: Site Specific Digital Theatre

The Parade was BBC Writersroom's collaboration with The Space and Slung Low theatre and explores the human stories behind Britain's troubled high streets.

Four of the writers from the 2011 Writersroom 10 scheme had their scripts produced as digital site specific theatre.

Watch the recordings below.

Somewhere Between a News Clipping and the Gossip Pages (These small tragedies)

by Kenny Emson

Set in a cornershop, a tense two-hander conveys society's obsession with news media and its portrayal of crime.

No More Pound Shop Wars

by Amman Paul Singh Brar

This humorous, touching piece looks at the length people will go to survive in a recession.

Can You Hear Me Baby

by Rebecca Prestwich

A lonely, drunken man tries to talk to a heavily pregnant woman in a kebab shop late at night, and an unexpected encounter ensues.

CSI Millionaire