A Sense of Place

Next Tuesday we open First Break, a mini festival in which we showcase the very best in new writing and emerging theatre talent with a northern flavour.   The Coliseum’s new writing policy is to commission writers with a connection to the north, either by birth, location, heritage or subject, and we aim to work on two new plays a year.  I see the Coliseum as rooted in a sense of place, with a clear northern voice.  

Currently, we’ve got Amanda Whittington’s Ladies’Day on stage, originally commissioned by Hull Truck - Coliseum audiences will know Amanda’s Be My Baby, Friday Night, Saturday Morning and writing masterclasses. 

  

Ladies Day has a clear identity: its setting is a Hull fish-fileting factory and a factory girls’ day out to a Royal Ascot relocated to York - the absolute antithesis of a society day out.   In an interview in the Ladies’ Day programme, Amanda talks about the importance of finding a world to explore and how characterisation springs from that.  She pinpoints the mark of authenticity: the identification that audiences feel when they see aspects of their lives reflected on stage.  She says people come up and tell her they’re a ‘Pearl’ or know a ‘Shelley’ – both of whom are strong characters in the show.  

Amanda outlines her long journey to becoming established, and from my years of working with writers, overnight success is extremely rare.  Dogged perseverance plays its part - part of the process is submitting scripts for feedback. Here at the Coliseum we read every unsolicited script we receive.  You never know if the next one will be a masterpiece!  Scripts are read by a panel of experienced theatre professionals and given constructive feedback.

I’m often asked if I have any tips for writers.  Rule number one – a lesson in life, I think – is don’t prevaricate.  Keep focused and keep writing.  Nothing has to be word perfect since you can always go back and re-write whatever you aren’t happy with first time round.  Frankly, I don’t envy writers at home with the temptation of hours of black and white films on daytime TV, the internet and the necessity of sharpening pencils, even though you’ve used a computer for years. If it wasn’t for the demands of the rehearsal room and getting a play on to the stage, I’d be at home, reading the Guardian website and looking longingly at a shelf needing dusting.  

Come retirement,  I could run a cleaning service but right now, I’m content seeing talented writers producing work for our audiences  – whether it’s Amanda, or new writers, or maybe you? 

See you at the theatre,

Kevin Shaw

Artistic Director