Theatre comes to the council chamber

Croydon’s council chamber will be converted into a theatre this weekend for the 30th International Playwriting Festival (IPF).

Originally created and hosted by the Warehouse Theatre, and more recently held in the Fairfield Halls, the IPF has showcased the work of many young playwrights over the years.

Notable amongst these are Guy Jenkin, co-creator of Drop the Dead Donkey, Richard Vincent, one of the team of writers behind Casualty, and Kevin Hood, who was jointly responsible for Silent Witness and also wrote many episodes of Grange Hill.

Every year the event takes submissions from around the world and these are judged by a panel of distinguished theatre practitioners.

The best scripts are then produced and performed over two days, with other notable entries also being featured in selected readings.

The BRIT school take part by showcasing two new plays from their annual ‘strawberry picking’ season and the festival’s International partners, Theatro Ena in Nicosia from Cyprus and Extra Candoni from Udine, Italy bring their own works to Croydon.

This year also features a celebrity Q&A discussion with long-serving former Times theatre critic, Jeremy Kingston.

Cllr-Godfrey“This festival has a long and honourable history and I’m delighted we have been able to support it this year by making the council chamber available for performances and readings.”

Councillor Timothy Godfrey, cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport

 

The plays selected for 2016 are ‘Cold Calling’, by Doc Watson from Bath in the UK, and ‘Shadowed’, by Tony Zeane from Australia.

Excerpts will be read from plays by Arze Khodr from Lebanon, Natsu Hirukawa from Japan, and David Blackman, also from Australia.

Tickets are available through Eventbrite at the following address http://bit.do/IPF16.

2016-09-06T13:45:30+01:00 September 6th, 2016|Recent news|