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The Limerick Writers’ Centre presents A Beginners Playwriting Course with Eleanor McSherry
Sat May 14th to Sat June 11th (One day a week lasting two hours)
Course Fee €140.00/€30.00 concession.

Six sessions devoted to exploring the ins and outs of playwriting, geared towards those with little or no previous experience in the field.  There will be group discussions and exercises at the end of each session to get the creative juices flowing.  This will hopefully create a context and atmosphere in which the participants can develop the bones of a one act play.  The main objective of the course is to take the fear out of writing and to get the participant started!
The course will entail an introduction to the craft of playwriting – developing character, writing scenes, effective dialogue, format, structure, re-writing techniques and how to become an effective critic of your own work.
Having email is a requirement!  The participants will be expected to email their exercises every week in order to participate in the group discussions!
For further information Tel 087 2996409 or email limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com

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Waterford Writers’ Weekend celebrates writing, reading and creativity. Running over three days, March 18th to 20th 2011, the lively and engaging programme is filled with workshops, readings, book signings, poetry, fiction, events for children and teens, entertainment and the long running Seán Dunne Young Writers’ Awards. The programme of events is available at www.waterfordwritersweekend.ie

talks and seminars will feature speakers such as former Taoiseach Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, RTE’s business editor David Murphy, author and columnist Martina Devlin, poets Thomas McCarthy and Leanne O’Sullivan, authors Ed O’Loughlin, Peter Murphy and many others. Participate in writing workshops including an introduction to creative writing, writing for theater, and learn the tricks and tips of how to get published. Over the weekend come to an Open Mic session, listen to music, attend craft exhibitions, taste the wonderful food of Waterford and so much more – the  promotional video is available on YouTube.

Workshops and readings can be booked at 051 849975 or by emailing writersweekend@waterfordcity.ie

Literary magazine Minus 9 Squared are now accepting submissions (in any theme) in the form of fiction, flash fiction, poetry, visual arts or theatre for their second issue. The magazine is also accepting cover image submissions, so visit here for full submisison details and criteria.

Conall Morrison has recently been appointed as Theatre Artist-in-Residence at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, funded by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the Arts Council. This Residency will take place in 2011/2012 and will involve several strands.

As part of his residency Conall will be starting up a playwrights’ scriptwriting group based in the Pavilion Theatre from the end of January, which will run for the duration of the residency.

As well as directing many productions for the Abbey Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Conall has experience of developing new plays and teaching playwrighting. He has worked on new plays with writers such as Tom Murphy, Tom MacIntyre and Marina Carr, amongst others. Participants will meet together roughly once a month to analyse each other’s work and to explore a wide range of the disciplines involved in writing for theatre.

Places in the group are strictly limited, so if you are interested please submit a finished play or substantial extract from a work in progress for consideration to:

Conall Morrison, Theatre Artist in Residence, Pavilion Theatre, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire.

There is no fee for participants, but there may be some photocopying costs.

Closing date for submissions is 5.30pm Friday 7th January 2011.

Marble, a new play by Marina Carr, is currently having its World Premiere run at the Abbey Theatre. I went along last week to review it for the Evening Herald’s HQ magazine. You can read that review [here]. I was accompanied on the night an illustrator friend whose own work is infused with a strong sense of the surreal. An apt choice of companion, it turned out, as the play’s themes, set design and promotional materials make very clear use of imagery from the work of pre-Surrealist artist Giorgio de Chirico – even a featured wine bar is named for him.

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