London Radio Playwrights' Festival

Every year, as part of the London Radio Playwrights' Festival, we run a series of workshops in London. These workshops are aimed at writers who are either beginners or who have already had some experience of writing for radio. All our workshops are free and open to anyone who lives, works, or studies in London (England). The workshop process is followed by the script competition which you can find out about in our Festivals and Competitions page. Scripts should be no more than 46 minutes long. Winning plays are to be broadcast on LBC radio in London and worldwide on the Internet at LBC's site: http://www.lbc.co.uk

The workshop programme has now been completed. There will be a new set of workshops available towards the end of 1999. Details will be posted on this page, as soon as the dates and venues have been arranged. In the meantime, we are leaving the information about the previous workshops here so that you have an idea of what we offer.

1998-99 WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

This year we offered workshops led by Richard Shannon, Tim Crook and James Payne.

Richard Shannon held his series of workshops in London theatres. He introduced the craft of writing for radio, illustrating his talks with examples from IRDP's productions. He concentrated on the importance of structure and character development and highlighted the use of sound design and music. There were opportunities for questions.

Saturday 5th December 1998 - 11am-1pm

The Hampstead Theatre, Swiss Cottage Centre, London NW3 3EX

Monday 14th December 1998 - 7.30pm

The Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED

Tuesday 9th February 1999 - 7pm

The Half Moon Young People's Theatre*, 43 White Horse Road, London E1 OND

Wednesday 17th February 1999 - 7pm

Oval House, 52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW

*Please note that The Half Moon is fully accessible for wheelchairs

There was also a Radio Drama Course provided by Tim Crook on Wednesday evenings (6-8pm) at Goldsmiths College, University of London, Lewisham Way, London SE14 6NW:

Wednesday 7th October 1998

Radio Drama - A New Media History Perspective

Wednesday 14th October 1998

Radio Drama - The Theory and Practice of Sound

Wednesday 21st October 1998

Radio Drama - The Political Economy of Radio Drama

Wednesday 28th October 1998

Radio Drama - A Study of Panic and Psychology

Wednesday 4th November 1998

Radio Drama - The Theory and Practice of Writing

Wednesday 18th November 1998

Radio Drama - The Theory and Practice of Performance

Wednesday 25th November 1998

Radio Drama - The Theory and Practice of Direction and Production

Two further sessions at Goldsmiths College were provided by award-winning radio dramatist and screenwriter James Payne on contemporary styles of audio drama writing:

Wednesday 2nd December 1998

Wednesday 9th December 1998

Every year there is also a special series of six workshops for black writers led by writer and performer Adjoa Andoh. Please e-mail Marja for details.

We also publish a leaflet giving details of the times and venues for these workshops, as well as details of the script competition, which we can send to you by post. Please e-mail Marja if you would like to be included on the mailing list for the leaflets.

IRDP website by Marja Giejgo