Josie Rorke, Roy Williams, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, David Eldridge and Libby Purves

Last night I was fortunate to spend an evening listening to Josie Rourke, Roy Williams, David Eldridge and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, talk about “what makes a good play?”. This was an event hosted by The Times + and was held at the Wilton Music Hall, which is a quirky location that I’d never been to before. As an aspiring playwright myself I found this a great opportunity to just sit back and listen to some great advice and the funny stories they told about how they ended up being playwrights.

It was strange to actually see and hear them, as I’ve only ever read their work or read articles and seen pictures of them. Josie Rourke offered some real insight into how a literary department at a theatre works and what she looks for in the plays that are submitted to her at The Bush.

I was particularly impressed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, I knew only vaguely of her work but having now listened to her, I’m looking forward to reading her plays and I’ll definitely keep my eye out for any work from her in the future too.

The strongest piece of advice I got from it was to simply be true to yourself and to write it.

There was a good answer and question session, with some interesting questions from the audience (one asked by yours truly).

The event was linked with the Bruntwood prize and the closing date for this is June 6^th, I’ve decided I’ll enter it, I’ve a couple of plays in rough draft stage and so this will at least focus my attentions and get to at least complete one. I’ve no delusions  of grandeur or expectations of winning, it will be achievement enough to have finished a play and submitted it.