Second Write Fest tickets on sale now

Tickets for the Second Write Fest are now on sale at a bargain price of £8 (£7 for concessions).

Nine short plays by writers from around the country and all receiving their premieres. Whether you like comedy, drama or music, respect straight-talking hard men or prefer poetic souls you will find something to your taste at the event that is the Write Fest.

Showcases of new plays have been produced by Progress for almost ten years, giving writers, actors and directors an opportunity to experiment and hone their skills. Until the First Write Fest last year these events had been for members only.

The consistent quality and strength of the writing prompted Progress to open the event up for public viewing, inviting everyone to see cutting edge theatre at its best. My Voice(s), discussed elsewhere in this blog, premiered at the First Write Fest and was so well received that it transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Be the first to see this brand new collection of exciting plays at Progress and keep an eye out for the "next big thing".

If you have any queries, please email writefest@progresstheatre.co.uk

Book now via Reading Arts

Progress goes to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival starts in just a few days and a play that began life as a small piece in the First Writefest last year has been expanded and is going to join the fun.

My Voice(s) started as a ten minute piece as part of an evening of new writing. Although Progress has produced similar evenings for the last 10 years, known as "Showcase", with the aim of giving new writers, actors and directors a chance to hone their skills, last February was the first time that the event was publicised to the general public.

Kerry Murdock (who you might have seen in Entertaining Mr Sloane last year) wrote a piece about a woman recovering from the break-up of a relationship and advised, sometimes helpfully, often not, by three of her own inner voices played by Alice Mulford (Good Woman of Setzuan), Emma Sterry (choreographer for Godspell) and Tonya Walton (The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband). As an intense piece of physical theatre, full of music and dance, it wowed the audiences and Kerry took it on herself to develop the piece and take it to Edinburgh with her own theatre company Friction Theatre (visit their blog).

Keeping the same cast, also including Owen Goode (Good Woman of Setzuan, Godspell) and Alana Ramsey (Good Woman of Setzuan), and director Steph Weller (Skylight) the new improved piece has been in preparation for months, received a preview performance at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham and the entire crowd arrived in Edinburgh last night ready for the first performance this evening. If you're in that part of the country, you can see them as the Rocket @ Demarco Roxy Art House at 10.45pm each evening. Alternatively, YouTube has a video of the show as seen at Progress.

If you're a writer and want more information about Progress' Writer's Group, please contact us at enquiries@progresstheatre.co.uk