Newcastle masterclass

I'm now back in the office after spending Wednesday evening at Live Theatre running my first masterclass with Katherine Beacon. Thanks to everyone who attended, especially those who braved the snow to get there and a big thanks to Gez at Live for letting us host the event. Katherine and I stayed behind a bit in the bar after the masterclass to let people pitch to us potential ideas for ABBA and it was really exciting to hear some fantastic pitches which I'm sure will make really interesting and fresh sounding radio dramas. I just hope those writers do write their plays and send them in.

As part of the masterclass I played the opening of the 2006 winning play Abigail Adams by Mark Shand and it was great to see how much everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Katherine and I talked a lot about the openings of radio dramas and how crucial the first ten pages of a script are in really gripping an audience and bringing them into the world you have created. This is incredibly important in radio drama as if you don't hook your listener in the first four minutes or so they won't keep listening - they will turn off the radio or switch to another channel, so you need something to pull them in from the beginning. If you want to read the opening of Abigail Adams, or indeed the whole script, then it is up on the Writersroom website in their script section, along with some other stand out radio dramas. They are well worth a look.

We have confirmed a couple more of the masterclasses now so if you would like to attend any of them then all the details are on the opportunities page. Places are limited so you will need to book. Hope to see you there!

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