Description prescription

I write prose as well as drama.  Writing is difficult.  Going from writing drama to prose is difficult in its own peculiar way.  For years I’ve been receiving feedback on my (lack of) description from other prose writers.  I’ve been writing for long enough to know how vital it is to get input from gifted, experienced writers.  I’m lucky to

Open Door at The REP

In 2013, BOLDtext Playwrights initiated discussions with Birmingham REP about presenting New Writing nights, and the OPEN DOOR initiative emerged. We pioneered it by presenting eight individual pieces of work-in-progress to a growing regional audience hungry for new work that reflected their lives. Click ‘continue reading’ or scroll down for older posts about the shows.

Bolder, Better, Brilliant

We’ve come a long way since we started in 2014. Beginning in The DOOR at the Birmingham Rep, we’ve burst out onto the streets of Digbeth, into the garden of a mansion, and even taken over a jail. We figured it’s about time we wrote down what it is we do. Read our manifesto below.

Follow Me

In summer 2019 it was anounced that the Birmingham Weekender would be going ahead. Planned for the beginning of October, it left us with less than three months to devise, pitch, and produce a show for the festival. To find out what we came up with click ‘continue reading’ or scroll down for older posts.

Behind Bars: Ghosts of the Lock-Up

Our first site-specific production, Behind Bars took place within the walls of a 130 year-old Victorian prison. Kicking off with nine performances in October 2018, the show’s notoriety got it sent back to the clink for a further twelve performances the following year. Click ‘continue reading’ or scroll down for older posts about the show.

Fire girl

I knew I wanted to write a servant character who worked for the Boultons at Soho House, for our upcoming new show Power of Invention (July 30th & 31st, August 7th 2021).  But where my Fire Girl came from, I don’t know.  Was it having my chimney swept last autumn; or setting up a makeshift fire pit on

Three things not to do

Lists, lists, lists.  The stuff of click bait.  But I’m not going to give you a list of things you shouldn’t do, I’m going to share my latest life hack:  When I write a new to do list, I now start with three things… not to do…. And put those three things at the top

Happy New (Tax) Year!

Okay, the new tax year starts in April, but January means one thing (other than giving up booze and New Year’s resolutions): TAX. Movember is much easier for me, as I now have a permanent moustache – being a woman who has lived for several decades.  But somehow my longevity doesn’t help me deal with

Helen’s fiery cravings

It’s been so long since I’ve had a cigarette, I thought I’d never again stand around outside trying to light something in the cold, wind and rain. I was wrong. I’ve recently built a fire pit, for obvious Lockdown reasons. It’s great, just a square of bricks with a big terracotta tile at the base.

Electricity

Our new show ‘Behind Bars: Ghosts of the Lock-Up’ runs from the 19th-21st October for nine performances only.  Taking a theatrical journey through Birmingham’s Steelhouse Lane Lock-Up, it will raise spirits from the prison’s past. Helen Kelly writes about one of them… Evelyn Miles was one of the first police women in England, taking up