Stage is set for new plays to do battle

SIX one-act plays will be performed and judged over four nights, from tonight, in two different categories at Writers’ Week at the Cork Arts Theatre.

Category ‘A’ is for playwrights who have been published, and previously short-listed for the competition, while category ‘B’ is for emerging playwrights. Since Writers’ Week was established in 1986, 800 plays have been submitted, 150 performed, and six published. Twenty-six were entered this year.

Breda Healy, manager, says “We’re dedicated to getting new plays out there. It’s very easy for theatres to put on plays that are bankable. It takes a real commitment to the arts to put on new plays by new writers that have never been seen before. The writers get feedback from the adjudicators, so that they can improve their standards.”

The adjudicators are Cork theatre stalwarts, Don McMullen, Maureen O’Byrne and Musetta Joyce.

The recession is a theme. “There’s definitely a sombre tone to a lot of the plays this year. Unemployment is one theme and another theme is the difficulty of people with learning disabilities to get into the workplace,” she says.

The winners from the two categories will receive e100 and a trophy. There will also be awards for best director, best production and the judges’ ‘special awards’. Previous winners have participated in the One Act Drama Festival, in October and November.

The six plays to be performed are under 40 minutes in duration. An open call was made by the Cork Arts Theatre for actors. “We give the playwrights rehearsal space; we do the lighting and sound and stage management. Everything they need is provided. The cost, for us, is minimal,” Healy says.

Dear Sister Ann, by Breda Nathan, is about the challenges of learning disabilities. Holding it Together, by Dorothy Ahern, is about three couples, one of which has a secret. Wallpaper, by Joanne Geary, is about a couple attending marriage counselling. September, by Henry Hudson, is about two elderly spinsters. One of the women is house-bound by illness. The other woman visits her and they open up to each other.

73 Seconds, by Mark Evans, is about three people who meet up 25 years after their childhood friend has died. The boy challenges the friends to relive the disaster that caused his death. Cutting the Strings, by Maikeru Dowd-Shi (a pen name), is about a gay couple, George and Pat, who throw a family dinner; there’s a momentous announcement.

The Cork Arts Theatre is doing well, despite not receiving funding. It is dependent on Community Employment Schemes and box office. “People tend to go to the theatre more in a recession. There’s a need to escape. We had a great run recently with Liam Heylin’s Love, Peace and Robbery,” Healy says.

*Writers’ Week at the Cork Arts Theatre runs from Feb 20-23 at 8pm.