Playwriting

Fraser Grace is a playwright and former actor and performance poet. His first play, Perpetua, was joint winner of the Verity Bargate Award and was produced by Soho Theatre/Birmingham REP. Since then he has written for theatres all over the UK, including Breakfast with Mugabe for the Royal Shakespeare Company, whose production won the John Whiting Award in 2006 and a Silver Sony Award when broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and the World Service. The play has since been revived in the UK, and has enjoyed extended runs in the USA, both off-Broadway and in California, in 2014. Since 2011 Fraser has convened the Master's Playwriting Course at the University of Birmingham, UK. Clare Bayley is an award-winning playwright. Her plays include Blue Sky, The Container, which won a Fringe First and the Amnesty International Award (Udderbelly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007) and has been produced at the Young Vic, London (2009) and in Cardiff, Baltimore US, Toronto Canada and Melbourne Australia. For radio she has written In The Van, a 15 Minute Drama for BBC Radio 4 (2012), Portobello Beach for BBC Radio Scotland (2012), and for BBC Radio 4: The Secret Place, The Bringer of Sweets and Northern Lights. She is a former theatre editor of The Independent and currently teaches creative writing at London South Bank University, UK.

A readable and mostly comprehensive introduction to writing for the stage for new playwrights … For true beginners this book would be an extremely helpful companion on their journey … It will likely be useful to the lone emerging playwright or in conjunction with an introduction to playwriting course. Grace and Bayley update some of the older playwriting texts and earnestly steer away from being overly prescriptive. For these reasons Playwriting is a useful addition to the bookshelf.

• ForewordIntroduction: Scriptwriter, Dramatist, Author, HackPart I: Playwriting - The View from AboveReflections 1Reflections 2A Brief History of the TheatrePart II: Tips and Tales - Guest ContributorsPart III: Write On - The View from the GroundWritingThe IndustryThe Production/Rehearsal ProcessBibliographyIndex