The Crack

It all started last year with an idea from Stefan Escreet, a director at the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick.

He suggested to the managing editor of BBC Cumbria, Nigel Dyson, that they should run a radio play-writing competition called "The Crack". The idea was that the writers would have to base their five minute play on a small ad from one of the local newspapers. The idea was supported by Arts Council England and bbc writersoom.

Stefan says "Haven’t we all seen small ads that make us smile? Or wonder what the story is behind them? And the small ads in local papers really capture the character of the places they're from. So when it came to finding something familiar and inspiring to get people writing for radio for the first time they seemed like a natural choice. The Cumbrian papers have been very supportive too – getting the word out that there was this opportunity to attend free workshops and create a new short play for the radio." 

Nigel says "It was an original idea and appealed immediately especially as I was interested in working more closely with the arts in the county”

Eventually we got 70 entries for the competition which was great and overall there was a very high standard.

The five winning plays were ...

"Love and Gingerbread" by Kirstie Pelling…a dark tale of goings on at a toddler’s playgroup.

"Spreading It" by Anne Pierson…an ultimately uplifting story of a farming family and the aftermath of foot and mouth disease.

"The Piano Teacher" by Beth Broomby…what happens when a young man turns up expecting to buy a piano.

"Friends of Dorothy" by Josie Baxter…how the ghost of Dorothy Wordsworth takes over a computer.

"Slow and Steady Wins the Race" by Ben Chilton and Stephen Graham…...how a vegetable growing contest gets out of hand.

Stefan says "I’m really pleased with the variety and quality of the five winners, but equally pleased by the numbers of people who were having a go at writing a play for the first time.  The winners had all done some writing before – this shows that it’s a craft that needs work and practice – but I hope all those other Cumbrian writers will keep going.  It would be great to create more opportunities like this around the county. It would be great to have some feedback from listeners and writers – let us know what you think of the plays!"

The plays are being broadcast on BBC Radio Cumbria in February and March 2007. Click on the links to listen to the five winning plays. You can also see how the day of recording went and find out more about the writers and actors who were involved.