Middle Child will present Fresh Ink, a new annual playwriting festival, to take place at Hull's Fruit Market 20–21 July 2024 featuring new plays, workshops and a keynote speech from the Royal Court Artistic Director, David Byrne.
There will be script-in-hand performances of works-in-progress, commissioned for the festival, by Rosie Race, Hannah Scorer, Grace Waga Glevey, Marc Graham, Prince Kundai and Andrew Houghton, rehearsed readings of scenes by the Middle Child Writers’ Group, an excerpt from Middle Child’s 2025 production by Sid Sagar and A Play and a Plate events, which offer a free meal with a reading of new writing.
Writing workshops will be led by Amy Trigg, Travis Alabanza, Yolanda Mercy, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Alan Lane and Luke Barnes, plus there will be industry talks about PR and marketing for writers, getting an agent, commissioning local work and making a writing career in Hull.
Byrne, a University of Hull alumnus, will speak about the state of new writing in the UK.
Paul Smith, artistic director of Middle Child, said, “Fresh Ink is a timely intervention at a time when producing new plays feels more challenging than ever. We’ve worked hard to create a space that feels hopeful, that supports writers to dream big and which invites audiences to feed directly into the creation of new work, made with their city in mind."
The six new commissions were selected from 130 entrants, who responded to an open call in November 2023 for writers with “a meaningful connection to Hull”. They will be directed by Paul Smith, Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme Intensive Residency Director Rachael Abbey and Hull Truck Theatre artistic director Mark Babych.