Overview

Hampstead Theatre has acted as ‘literary matchmaker’ in bringing together three writing partnerships. Each partnership consists of one experienced playwright and one less experienced writer who has demonstrated particular talent. Ideas for the plays have been prompted by the theatre’s ‘Plant a Seed’ scheme, a chance for members of the public to email ideas about which a play might be written – subjects that our audiences are currently excited by. Using these ideas as a starting point, the pairs have had just 2 weeks to submit a script, before undergoing a further 4 weeks of dramaturgical support from Hampstead’s literary department.

Daring Pairings - The 1st Panoramic New Writing Festival is sponsored by GHP Group Ltd.

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Hampstead Theatre and BBC Radio Drama present
Stages of Sound 2
by Samantha Ellis, Hope Massiah, Cosh Omar, Darren Rapier, Mehrdad Seyf & Vanessa Walters

8 May

Five ten minute new radio plays from Hampstead Theatre's Writers' Group exploring natural selection. Followed by Sugar & Snow, a 50 minute radio play centred around the Kurdish community in North London by Samantha Ellis.

Stages of Sound 2 is an initiative between Hampstead Theatre and BBC Radio Drama to introduce a diverse range of new writers to radio as to well as to welcome them into theatre. A BBC funded free event.

Supported by Arts Council England & BBC Radio Drama.  

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New plays from four fresh young voices
by Roy Williams & Daniel Kaluuya, Besma Musaddaq, Marie Osmand & Atiha Sen-Gupta

9 May

A ten minute play opener by multi award-winning playwright Roy Williams' has been finished by four talented 13-18 year olds from Hampstead Theatre’s youth theatre in their own fresh and distinctive ways.

A 6am police visit and a busted door, a restless baby, and Darren her good-for-nothing son threatens to crush Yvette’s dreams of happiness.

Uncle Sean tries to make things better but with the arrival of new neighbour Josie, he’s got other things on his mind… Why has Josie returned? Who is Darren’s Dad? And is Darren’s only crime being a teenager?

The Heat and Light Company is Hampstead Theatre’s youth theatre of which Roy Williams is a patron. For this project, members of the company were asked to submit two pages of dialogue based on one of a selection of themes: friendship, food or ‘what if’. From these, four writers were asked to join Roy for an intensive day of brainstorming after which Roy  wrote a ten minute opening to a play.

Having received Roy’s opener, each of the writers have written a ten minute ending, creating four plays that start in the same way but which might end very differently. Each twenty minute play will be performed by different members of The Heat and Light Company in Hampstead Theatre’s main auditorium on the same evening.

Doors don't just grow on trees by Atiha Sen-Gupta
It ain't that easy by Daniel Kaluuya
As yet untitled by Besma Musaddaq
As yet untitled by Marie Osman

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Deirdre’s Photo Casebook

by Nick Grosso & Alexis Zegerman

10 May

“This isn’t on. I died last week.”

“You were in a coma.”

“Same thing.”

“Colin’s car crash coma. You were in every picture.”

“I look good. I’m not doing this. I’m not dying on day one.”
 
What’s the story, behind the story? Our hunger for real-life dilemmas is viewed through the lens of the Sun’s regular serial, Deirdre’s Photo Casebook, in Nick Grosso and Alexis Zegerman’s funny and quirky new play.

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Untitled

by Judy Upton & Tom Morton Smith

11 May

‘When you’re on a train and the toilet is at the back as you’re walking down the carriage you’re still travelling forwards, but where you want to go is backwards. In reality you’re just travelling forwards a bit slower than everything else around you. In relation to the train. To get to the toilet.’
 
Is Al moving forward? Does caring for the elderly justify his casual attitude towards his own health?  His lifestyle guru sister, Gaynor, can’t get through to him.  But will Al’s future self finally persuade him to take responsibility?

Judy Upton and Tom Morton-Smith’s new play is a funny and bold unravelling of our own future selves through the metaphor of time-travel.
 
Cast includes: Philip Desmeules, Benny Young and Georgia Mackenzie, directed by Will Kerley.

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Plague of People

by Steve Waters & George Gotts

12 May

“If all the ice goes … the sea level rises – let’s say between 5 to 10 centimetres.”

“So East Anglia’s had it? … the peripheral parts of England – OK, that’s good, that’s not catastrophic…”
 
Robin’s giving up on life. Will’s trying to highlight the necessity for environmental awareness. But who’s listening? Plague of People is a sharply satirical and haunting look at climate change and man’s neglectful attitude towards it.
 
Cast includes: Louisa Clein, Stephen Wight, Sarah Woodward, Katherine Parkinson, Bruce Alexander, Susan Brown, Mark Rice-Oxley, Aislinn Mangan and Ruairi Conaghan, directed by Raz Shaw.