Creative Writing for Live Performance: Level 1

Book Now

• Spaces are limited so early booking is encouraged
• Bookings will close at 5pm on Friday 17 January 2025 or when the course reaches full capacity
• Read our terms and conditions 

Ages 18+

Course Dates & Times

Tuesday evenings on 21, 28 January, 4, 11, 18, 25 February 2025
7pm–9pm*

*The final session (25 February) will last 2.5 hours.

About Creative Writing for Live Performance: Level 1

This six-week course will develop your creative writing skills and provide you with inspiration to bring an idea for performance and theatre to life. The course will focus on sparking ideas and creating theatre and storytelling through text, with an active approach to playwriting and creative writing that will bring writers away from their desks.

Who is the course for?

• Anyone aged 18 and over who has an idea for a story and wants to bring it to life, or anyone who wants to write for performance but doesn’t know where to start. This could be a play, a screen project, poetry, spoken word or performance art pieces.
• There is no upper age limit on this course. We encourage and welcome participants from all ages 18 and over.

What can I expect?

You can expect to:

• Learn how to write stories for performance
• Develop writing techniques through exercises, including improvisation
• Gain an understanding of structure, form and character development

There will be optional tasks for you to complete between each session, with the aim of having a completed piece of writing by the end of the course. You will have the opportunity to hear your writing performed by actors in the final week.

Do I need anything for the course?

• There will be required reading and a brief written exercise prior to the start of the course
• You will be given optional homework (written and/or practical) of which completion is recommended to gain the most out of the course (about one hour per week).
• Attendance of all six sessions is recommended to allow progression of learning and for the benefit of the group as a whole.

Course Fee

£310

Book Now

• Spaces are limited so early booking is encouraged
• Bookings will close at 5pm on Friday 17 January 2025 or when the course reaches full capacity
• Read our terms and conditions 

Eligibility

• We welcome participants from all ages 18 and over
• Participants must have sufficient English language skills in order to fully engage with the course 
• No prior experience required

About the Course Tutor

The course has been developed and is taught by award-winning writers and performers Maddie Rice and Tom Machell.

Maddie Rice is a British actor, award winning writer/performer and a member of BAFTA Connect.

Her debut one-woman play Pickle Jar won the 'Three Weeks Editors Award' in Edinburgh, transferred and had a hugely successful run at Soho Theatre and is now being developed into a feature film. She wrote her second play Selfish as part of Soho Theatre's Soho Six. It is being produced by New Frame Productions and will be premiering in 2024.

Maddie's debut TV drama project Gym, about a gymnast who's dangerously attached to her sport getting wrapped up in a new training facility that is definitely too good to be true, is in development with BBC drama and STV. She has recently completed work on writer's rooms for Netflix’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory alongside Vicky Jones, Disney's Everything You Never Said and has completed a blind script commission with AMC entitled Vulnerable about a corrupted wellness guru.

Maddie is also developing two projects with Tom Machell. A comedy drama based on a Tatler article, The Fake with Condé Nast Entertainment, and The Nightingales, a comedy about nurses in Newcastle based on true stories. She has also written and performed with award-winning sketch groups, Lead Pencil and zazU who've both had sold out runs at Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre respectively.

As an actor Maddie most notably took over from Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the stage show of Fleabag on tour and her own show Pickle Jar at Soho Theatre. She has appeared in Fleabag, Call the Midwife, The Other One (BBC), Stath Lets Flat, The Tool (Channel 4), Every Blank Ever, All female sketch show Flaps (Comedy Central), Ten Percent (Amazon) and recently won best actress at the Jane Austen film festival for her role in short film Lady Brentley's End.

Tom Machell is an award-winning writer/performer from Newcastle upon Tyne. He is optioned by Conde Nast Entertainment LA, Candle & Bell with NE Screen, the BFI, and Roxo on television projects. His new play Toast F**K will premiere in 2024. He won the UK Film Festival, Los Angeles Motion Picture Film Festival & Changing Face International Film Festival's ‘Best Short Script’ 2021 award for his short film A Spoonful. The film script was a shortlisted finalist at 12 other festivals worldwide. He is BAFTA Connect 2022-2025.

PlayDead Press published Tom’s debut play Ticker which ran at the Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to Alphabetti Theatre & Northern Stage and the Turbine Theatre to rave reviews. His first comedy short Junior Doctors Padz was made for Channel 4 in partnership with FNA films and North East Comedy Hot House - executive produced by Emma Lawson. Alongside his individual work, Tom writes and performs with his award-winning comedy troupe zazU, which have had four sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre respectively.

As an actor Tom has recently appeared in Vera (ITV), Hullraisers (Channel 4), Emmerdale (ITV), Our Friends in the North (BBC Radio 4), The Emily Atack Show (ITV 2), Every Blank Ever (Comedy Central) as well as several features, shorts and off-Broadway/off West End productions including Life According to Saki (New York Theatre Workshop) & Atticist’s office nominated Outlying Islands by David Greig.