Your Submission has been received

The words, "your submission has been recieved" should fill me with a sense of completion, a sense of hope, a sense of possibilities of new beginnings but it hasn't. My shoulders have hunched, I feel sick in the pit of my stomach and I find myself feeling very negative.

Did I spend enough time on this? Why didn't I spend more time thinking about the log-line? Why didn't I use a different idea completely? Why didn't I use a script-reading service? Why did I bother to build myself up only to face the inevitable knock back again?

Still shoulders back, deep breath and move on to the next deadline which is frighteningly close, 10 minutes of script by the 8th August, in the hope of a theatre writing course with Kate o Reilly, mentoring by the National Theatre and a rehearsed reading of script.

I must not use the word fragmented

It's just a few days away to deadline and after a major re-write this weekend my 10 minutes are done. The 1 page synopsis is almost done. Almost done apart from the very last line - the log line. I've written out hundreds of variations now. So many in fact it looks like the teacher has given me lines as a punishment. Not that I was ever given lines to do because I was a good girl.

I've gone back to some of my original notes and now I'm staring at a sheet of paper on which I long ago wrote lots of words and phrases about the Book of Lost Causes.

Altruism, detective, hope, boxes, disparity, catherine wheel, randomness, pretence, disconnection, insulation, impact of money, zombies, latticework, control, failure, making a difference, family, average, weaving, infertility, fabrication, fragmented, blinkered, death, memories, identity, archive, myth, star, family history, interwoven, malfunction, siblings.

It has to be said I should get the award for overuse of the word fragmented. I really can't remember the past time I wrote a synopsis and didn't use the word fragmented.

I must not use the word fragmented.
I must not use the word fragmented.
I must not use the word fragmented.

Playwriting Course for Welsh Writers

Welsh writers are invited to join a new play writing project, run in conjunction with the National Theatre tour of Alan Bennett’s new play The Habit of Art.

ONLY 9 PLACES AVAILABLE FOR THIS VERY SPECIAL COURSE
If you are interested in writing for theatre in English and would like to have an opportunity to write in a beautiful setting with advice and support from experts, then join this very special National Theatre project in partnership with venue Cymru and Tŷ Newydd, National Writers' Centre for Wales.

Artists from the National Theatre, London will work with you for an online feedback session, a residential weekend and a rehearsal day to help you to write a 10 minute piece of theatre. The pieces will be rehearsed for a read performance in front of an invited audience at Venue Cymru during the run of The Habit of Art.

To apply: Please send a 10 minute (approximately) script to Artscripts@nationaltheatre.org.uk before 6pm on 8th August with your name address and contact details. The piece must be a scene of a meeting of two people, they can be imagined, real, from history, contemporary, famous or not. You will be able to use a cast of 3 actors for the rehearsed reading.

All successful applicants must be able to attend the weekend residency at Tŷ Newydd, 24 – 26 September, and the day workshop and performance at Venue Cymru on 16 October.
On 13th August the National Theatre will contact you to let you know if you have a place on the project.

Residential weekend: 24th – 26th September. Arriving at Tŷ Newydd for 7pm meal on Friday and leaving after lunch on Sunday.

Saturday 16 October, 10am – 6pm plus the evening show of Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art from 7.30pm at Venue Cymru, Llandudno.

This course is highly subsidised and supported generously by The Dorset Foundation.
The cost of the course including a ticket to see The Habit of Art is £175.

Venues:
Residential weekend at Tŷ Newydd, National Writers' Centre for Wales, Llanystumdwy, Criccieth, Gwynedd.

Saturday rehearsal and performance day at Venue Cymru, LLandudno
For further information on this project, please email dingleson@nationaltheatre.org.uk

Discover: Mobile is supported by The Dorset Foundation.

Further information on the project:
The 10 minute piece can be a small part of a story of a longer play or scene or full sketch that lasts 10 minutes. The project is inspired by Alan Bennett’s new play in which he creates an imagined meeting in later life of the poet, WH Auden and his once friend and collaborator, composer Benjamin Britten. Therefore, we are asking all writers to write a piece of theatre that is a meeting of two people. These can be real, imagined, from history, current. You will have access to a cast of 3 actors.
If you are applying please ensure that you are free to attend the weekend residency at Tŷ Newydd from 24 – 26 September and the day workshop and performance at Venue Cymru on 16 October.

We will contact you to let you know if you have a place on the weekend residency at Tŷ Newydd and the day workshop at Venue Cymru on 13th August.

If you are on the course, you will be given feedback on your work and notes to support you through the writing of your second draft to bring to the weekend at Tŷ Newydd where you will work with a National Theatre writer and dramaturg. Here you will prepare a 2nd draft to take to the October rehearsal and performance day where you will meet the actors and National theatre Directors. You, one of three directors and the actors taking part in the project will prepare for the rehearsed reading in the evening.

The exact schedule of the day will be confirmed nearer the time, but it will be 10am – 6pm and the rehearsed reading will be open to an invited audience of interested parties, your friends and families. The approximate start time of this performance will be 4pm at Venue Cymru. You will then have a break and at 7.30pm watch Alan Bennett’s new play The Habit of Art.