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RWCMD Launches Sixth NEW Writing Season

28 February 2019

As well as its ground-breaking NEW writing season, which takes place in Cardiff and London at the end of this month, the Royal Welsh College continues to lead the way in commissioning challenging, provocative and ambitious contemporary theatre, producing eight new plays this year alone.

This commitment to new work aims to diversify the canon, redressing historical imbalances in the voices that are heard on stage, while empowering the next generation of actors, ensuring that the people making it are representative of Wales, the UK and the world we live in today.

“The NEW Seasons at Royal Welsh College are a vital part of the theatre industry ecology.

It equips the student actors, technicians and designers with a making-led mentality that empowers them as artists, nurturing their agency for their future careers,” said Director Ned Bennett, who was one of the first to join the College’s NEW season.

Now in its sixth year, as well as working with its long-term collaborators Paines Plough, The Royal Court Theatre, and Sherman Theatre, the College is also working with its long-term partner venue, Gate Theatre.

“After five years hosting this essential festival, we are proud to join forces as an artistic collaborator on the project this year and look forward to welcoming RWCMD back to the Gate in April,” said Ellen McDougall, Artistic Director, Gate Theatre.

New plays this year include last season’s UK Premiere of Simon Stephen’s Rage, originally workshopped at the College with Royal Court Theatre Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone, and a new version of Lope De Vega’s The Sicilian Courtesan. This will be joined in the summer by Sonali Bhattacharyya’s (Channel 4 writer in residence at The Orange Tree Theatre) 100% Positive Wellness, which was workshopped here last year as part of the College’s Writing House project before being developed to a full commission.

“We have produced a phenomenal number of new plays, working with some of the most exciting artists around. New writing has become woven into the fabric of what we hope to be as a College”, explains head of actor training, Dave Bond.

“We don’t just want to supply the best actors we can into the industry. As a drama school, we also want to be a net contributor, a real and valid partner, forging links with those industry figures that our students need to have relationships with.

We have a desire and passion to be a creative force within our industry, to make changes and facilitate the work of exiting playwrights and directors as well as giving our students the opportunity to test themselves against challenging work.

Our industry is changing and creative input can now come from anywhere. Our students are writing throughout their training and contemporary rehearsal rooms are a much more collaborative space. We aim to keep pace with what the industry is doing.”

The College’s Writing House workshops continue to give new writers and directors the time, space and resources for new writing development.

Writers and directors are funded to workshop with the College’s acting students to develop ideas for new plays from their very earliest stages.

These projects will then either be commissioned by the College into full productions, as with Sonali Bhattacharyya’s play, or form part of the development process for new work elsewhere.

In 2018 The Royal Welsh College was named Guardian University Guide top Drama School in the UK for the fourth time since 2013.

NEW: 2019

Writers & directors, NEW:2019

Between Eternity and Time, written by Jacob Hodgkinson, directed by Hannah Noone, In collaboration with Sherman Theatre

Maja is lost and looking for a place in the world. But arriving in Bangor as a drug runner from Liverpool, events lead her to question whether this was ever the world she belonged to in the first place.

Kasimir and Karoline written by Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone, with Saša Čeleski, directed by Fumi Gomez, In collaboration with Gate Theatre

Based on Kasimir Und Karoline by Ödön von Horváth, translated by Saša Čeleski

What chance does love have in a world where we define happiness by the things we have? When Kasimir finds himself unemployed, the destruction of his relationship swiftly follows.

Loam, Written by Bea Roberts, Directed by Donnacadh O’Briain, In Collaboration with Royal Court Theatre

It’s the present day, ish, and in a big and dirty city thousands of people start coughing up soil. As this strange new revolution begins to blossom, experts are flummoxed, helplines are jammed and tree-kicking vigilantes are not helping anyone.

Turbines, Written by Sarah McDonald Hughes, directed by Emily Ling Williams, In collaboration with Paines Plough

Seven students in the PRU of a big school in a small, cold, forgotten seaside town somewhere in the North of England. They’re young and desperate and they can’t wait to get out into the world. But the world’s a dangerous place, and they know they’re going to need to arm themselves if they want to survive.

Tues 19 March – Thurs 21 March
Royal Welsh College, Cardiff
029 2039 1391
www.rwcmd.ac.uk

Tues 2 – Fri 5 April
Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London
020 7229 0706
www.gatetheatre.co.uk

Editors Notes
Director Ned Bennett was one of the first to join the College’s NEW season. Pomona, written by Alistair McDowell then transferred to the Orange Tree before heading to the National Theatre and the Royal Exchange.

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