Off the page: Scratch workshops and performance
Off The Page: Scratch, is a termly workshop for script writers that will progress their short scripts into a performance. The workshops will be ran by professional dramaturg and Ciaran Carson writing and the city fellow, Hanna Slättne. Criticism editor, Darcey Youngman, will oversee workshopping of the scripts by actors and directors from the first week of October.
What we are looking for....
A ten page extract/ scene of a script. It can be for radio, film, tv or theatre.
Available for the occasional Saturday workshop or rehearsal.
A willingness to develop and workshop your writing.
Working collaboratively with a professional dramaturg, directors and actors.
Developing the script for performance, and receive feedback from the audience.
Scratch is a workshopped-performance of scripts for the writers and creators to see their words up of their feet, off the page.
It is a way for script writers to see their work; what works and doesn't work. As well as gather information from the audience themselves.
The Seamus Heaney Centre is a place for poetry, prose, non-fiction and scripts. Seamus Heaney himself was a playwright and film maker. Therefore, we want to celebrate and open doors for students who are script writers or want to try their hand at it!
Our first session will be with Hanna Slättne, where she will set expectations, probe questions for the writers and help set goals and aim for what the writers want out of the scratch.
The next session you will get to meet your actors and directors, whom you will set your own expectation on your script and how best to work collaboratively.
From there, you will be offered an afternoon rehearsal, in which Darcey Youngman will facilitate. This is the time to have fun, and to play. While also building up the script, giving feedback and development.
Writers will also have the amazing opportunity of a one-to-one with Hanna throughout the process.
All this will lead up to a performance of your piece, a 'Scratch Sunday.' This is where you show off how your words have come off the page to your friends, family, staff and peers.
Hanna Slättne is a dramaturg, facilitator, collaborator, researcher and maker. Hanna was an in-house dramaturg for Tinderbox Theatre company for fifteen years, and now works freelance. She is currently a Ciaran Carson Writing and the City Fellow here at the Seamus Heaney Centre.
QUP is the drama society at Queens University. They perform multiple productions every year, put on socials and workshops and are offering their actors and directors to work closely with the script writers.
Darcey Youngman is a alumni of the Seamus Heaney Centre, completing her MA in Creative Writing in 2023. She works at The Seamus Heaney Centre managing multiple projects, such as the film, theatre and literature criticism. She is a playwright and has had many different plays performed for scratch and for stage.