by Vanessa Oakes
Following the success of our first three nights at The REP we were offered two more dates by Tessa in autumn 2014. We met to discuss our options and talked around various ideas – I talked about being part of Paines Plough’s ‘Come to Where I’m From’ and how people seemed to be fascinated by writers and their practice – why, how and even where we write. People regularly pay to hear novelists and poets read aloud excerpts from books they already own – to see what they look like, hear what they sound like and maybe even meet them.
Maybe they would pay to hear us read our own work too?
Shortly after the meeting Selfies was born – we had an idea which was low cost and could be delivered in a relatively short space of time. Plus, it allowed us to get to know each other & our work/practice better by working collaboratively. It enabled us to explore and share our experiences of being a playwright and develop confidence in our individual voices. We were also interested in developing a stronger relationship with our audience and investigating alternative platforms for our work.
Directed by Ola Animashawun (Euphoric Ink & The Royal Court), our line up for Selfies on 24th November 2014:
Stephen Jackson Off His Trolley
Nicola Jones Dark Matters
Helen Kelly Lowering My Voice
Vanessa Oakes The Other Me
Directed by Jessica Dromgoole (Home Front BBC Radio 4), our line up for More Selfies o 15th December 2014:
Liz John In Search of the Unhappy Ending
Sayan Kent And Breathe
Tim Stimpson Quake
Julia Wright Getting Started and Getting On With It
We’re currently in talks with various organisations about staging a selection of selfies at events in the future so if you missed them the first time around keep a look out on our news section.
BOLDtext Playwrights 