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Write Now, Right OnDateline: 7th February, 2010Sandra Giorgetti looks at the first season of new writing at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre in South East London and how the initiative developed beyond its original scope. In autumn 2009 the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre invited submissions of unperformed plays. A team of five would read the material from which three would be selected for production, and the result is the first public performance of Joy Wilkinson's Compression, Tom Green's Fighting and Kate Gallon and Kate-Lynn Hocking's The Bitch from Brixton. Kate Bannister, artistic director of the Jack and primary force behind this initiative, is pragmatic about its impact, "I think the Jack is not going to turn into a new writing venue but what we want to do is mix the best of the revivals and the interesting revivals and the classical works with good new writing and make that part of the theatre's staple diet". Not knowing what kind or how many entries to expect the panel received a challenging 50 plus scripts and each one was read in its entirety by at least two people. One of these was Bannister: "It was incredibly hard work reading all those scripts but the things we read were incredible. We had a huge variety. Every time you picked one up you didn't know whether it was going to be about child soldiers or about an accident or love ... it could be about anything". "They were all interesting in their own way," adds Jennifer Lunn, panel member and director of the first piece. "There were some plays that had amazing ideas which you wish you'd had yourself but the language didn't always come off the page perhaps, or you believed every word that was written on the page but it wasn't about something new... We were very strict with ourselves: we always said we have a duty to pick what we think are the strongest pieces of writing that deserve to be put on." Local resident and writer Lin Coghlan and producer Simon James Collier of Okai Collier Company, both award-winners in their fields, were panel members and significant voices in the final choice of plays. The only criteria for the entries was that they should have some connection with south London and not have been performed; with such an open brief the final choice came down to a germane mix of the intangible with the expedient. What counted for Kate Bannister was "The images that stick. The stories that stay behind when you put one down and you've gone onto the next one, or the next one, but you are still thinking about Compression or Bitch or ...". Alongside this though are the practical aspects: the resources available, even with significant support from Lewisham Council's Take Part Fund, are inevitably limited and the plays finally selected had to be those with 'peformability'. "There were some stories where you think 'gosh' but they needed a bit of time, a bit of work. Write Now doesn't have the funding or the resources to be able to have four months working with the writer to do that: we had to find something that we could work with. Things that were a little bit more ready." Inevitably pieces which had that 'performability' came from the pens of writers who had some knowledge and experience of theatre writing, which is not to say the pieces are perfect and that the writers will not be collaborating in the preparation and rehearsal process. Early discussions resulted in a change of title for the final piece by Kate Gallon and Kate-Lynn Hocking from Ruthless to the Bitch from Brixton, a play that revisits the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged for murder. Mark Leipacher (artistic director of The Faction Theatre Company) will direct Bitch which Kate Bannister describes as "written quite sparsely", and those who know Leipacher's directing work with Faction will be looking forward to this "quite stylised piece" which Bannister anticipates "will be a bit of a fusing with Mark". Darren Batten, the fifth member of the reading panel and is producing, is also no stranger to the Brockley Jack. His production company Language Laid Bare was responsible for Nina and Shaz which is now in pre-production for a central London venue, and prior to that Wild Oats Productions' of Lillies played there to significant critical praise. In the earlier week-long slot is Fighting by Tom Green whose "writing often has an insidious, blackly comic power" (Paul Taylor, The Independent). This provocative play concerns soldiers ambushed on military exercise and doubting what is for real and what can be relied upon when there are different versions of the truth. Kate Bannister who will direct describes it as "a piece which is quite edgy; it asks questions and you're not really sure what's happening". A one-hander, Compression, opens the new writing season (on 16th February). In this the central character Robin is isolated by a gift that he has had from birth but he has to overcome the daemons if he is going to take the last chance of being with the woman he loves. This funny and moving play is by long-time south London resident Joy Wilkinson whose work includes Now is the Time, part of Tricycle Theatre's The Great Game, and Felt Effects which won the Verity Bargate Award. Compression features Gareth Kennerley whose recent credits include the title role in Faustus at Greenwich Theatre and Karl in War Horse at the National Theatre and in the West End. Kate Bannister and Jenifer Lunn are agreed on the symbiosis: "Everyone is committing quite a lot of time for a show that is only on for one week, but they are part of something bigger. This is not just about Compression. It is not standing on its own and taking the burden of 'This Was The Play', 'The One' and the expectations that would then heaped on. It's not about Fighting, it's not about The Bitch from Brixton; they have more strength being together. There were some that will be or could be incredible but weren't at the stage where they were ready to be put on (Kate Bannister) The reading and selection process was undertaken 'blind' without the writers' backgrounds or authorial histories being revealed until after the selection process. What emerged was that, whilst Write Now was going to produce three new pieces of writing, it was not necessarily going to be nurturing of new talent: "We were picking three shows that were of a very high standard, but perhaps what we weren't doing through this was that we weren't necessarily supporting those younger, newer writers". To fulfil that need there have been two immediate and positive spinoffs from Write Now. The formation of the Brockley Jack Writers' Workshop under the tutelage of playwright David Bottomley provides a financially accessible forum to explore the different aspects of writing across eight sessions, after which the participants have the opportunity to submit a script for a rehearsed reading at the theatre. The inaugural group of 14 includes writers whose work was considered for Write Now but neither this nor previously produced writing experience were prerequisites to joining the group, and Kate Bannister harbours the hope that in future more new work could be drawn from this source. The second initiative to emerge has been the ongoing production of monthly Scratch Nights. These Sunday night showcases of new material - quick-fire acts of anything from stand-up to film to poetry - are gaining a following. They are open to all and any submissions of stand-alone short pieces or extracts will be considered, whilst complete scripts will be read by workshop leader David Bottomley in his capacity as the Brockley Jack's Literary Manager and who has another hat as Writers Group Director of the London Playwrights Collective. Write Now and its spinoffs, together with the existing theatre programme, film events, comedy and community festivals, makes the Brockley Jack a lively and busy studio theatre. It also has an advantage over many pub-based fringe venues in that the Brockley Jack pub is friendly and welcoming. Recently refurbished, with well above average loos, it has both indoor and courtyard restaurant areas where one can get reasonably priced good food, though order early if you're going to the theatre! As well as bringing new work to the Brockley Jack, Write Now has the potential to also attract a first time audience and hopefully further funding from the Council. It's an exciting time and, as Kate Bannister says of the works themselves, "There are going to be things that are discovered ..."
Sandra Giorgetti
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