What a weekend!

At 11.30am on 9th September we sit near Chamberlain’s Clock in Golden Square and the magic begins. The clock exerts its power and time becomes fluid. As writers, we see our words spring to life when the actors arrive to take the audience with them on their journey round the Jewellery Quarter. There are stories

History – what is it good for?

Everyone studies History at school but what do we learn? There are so many different histories – kings and queens, wars, political, social, Commonwealth, world. How does it help us? The philosopher Santayana said ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Judging by the number of times history repeats itself, we’re

Our show needs YOU!

BOLDtext Playwrights’ latest show, GEM OF A PLACE, is welcoming a community cast to support our production with a dash of visual/physical theatre.  This is the first time we’ve worked with a community cast but we’re looking forward to co-creating some theatrical moments which will complement the micro-plays from BOLDtext writers. We’d like these fleeting

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.

There may be trouble ahead…

…but there’s a chance we will be back in theatres watching plays and dance and live music again soon. I miss being in rehearsal rooms with actors and being with other writers and being in theatre spaces. I miss the process of working with the actors to build a shared vision as the rehearsals progress.

Spring is on the way

Crisp bright days, sparkling frost, hats, coats and gloves to keep out the cold. Great for some but not for me. Ok, I’ll admit snow is lovely, when you don’t have to go out to work – which many of us aren’t doing right now. But what I really crave is warmth and sun –

Drowning in apples

Looking for an activity to put off getting down to writing? I’ve found a new diversion.  The apple tree in the garden offered the perfect excuse. First, it was so full of heavy apples after the sunny weather in April that the main branch split from the trunk, needing propping up. Then the apples had