- July 2019
It’s 2003 and oil consultant Ryan Ellis has been posted from the UK to a remote area of the Balkans. Although based miles from the civil unrest (following the collapse of the Yugoslav Federation), Ryan is taking no chances. He protects his home with sophisticated security gates and alarms, and when his wife Lidia comes out for a short visit, he hires Masluch, a local bodyguard, to look after her.
But a few days into her visit, Ryan begins to doubt if the charming Masluch is all that he claims to be. He has concerns over the relationship between Lidia and Masluch. And in a region torn apart with ethnic cleansing and frequent kidnappings, perhaps Ryan has ever reason to be worried?
Guarded is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- July 2019
“All brains and no blood…well that’s just no good for anyone.”
Emily and Andy said they were soulmates, but the music of their blood broke them apart. How will a chance reunion impact their lives now they’re “all grown up”? A gently comic exploration of friendship, love, sex and meaning.
In July of 2019 WRiTEON will be producing an entire festival of one act plays. There will be six new plays staged across three venues. This is one of those six plays. Every play will be fully-staged and fully rehearsed.
- July 2019
In a civil society, what are the limits of what can and cannot be said?
Three static gargoyles, believing themselves to be angels, sit atop three plinths atop a cathedral. The First, an entitled rule-maker, imparts his wisdom on The Second, a consensus builder, and The downtrodden Third. Sleeping by day, the gargoyles spend their nights examining their origins, desires, politics and purpose.
One fateful day, after wedding bells chime, to they other ‘Angel’s’ horror, The First is granted the gift of movement. Will he be free, fly away and explore the world beyond? Or will he stay for the good of ‘the brotherhood’?
Using absurdist farce, The Offensive is a satirical parable navigating the logical rabbit holes of modern day identity politics to explore the case for freedom of expression.
The Offensive is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- July 2019
Shelagh is in her thirties. She has everything she could wish for: a healthy and fit body, a long-term relationship, a job with prospects of promotion, parents close by … But she lives in a competitive world, where everyone wants more, has more, achieves more. Shelagh doesn’t own her home, she doesn’t have children, she doesn’t run the company … Trying to keep up in a world where only the fittest survive, she absorbs the neoliberalist “friendships” and takes her mother’s ambitions on herself. At the same time, she is trying to run away. She runs, she exercises, she goes to the gym every day. Her obsession to work out becomes a form of self-harming. But is she willing to give up the core of who she is so that she could have it all?
Sink or Swim is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- July 2019
'Darling. What's my name?'
John and Claire Cunningham are an average couple: married for years, they’re stuck in a rut, with only experimentation seeming to hold the key to invigoration. Except, those aren’t their real names, and over time the line between reality and fiction has become blurred to the extent that neither really knows where the games end and their actual lives begin. What began as an attempt to inject some much-needed excitement into their lives has led to a crisis of identity from which neither seems able to awaken, and as their lies become more and more elaborate, they start to threaten the world outside of the relationship, with potentially criminal repercussions.
From playwright James P Mannion (Hedgehogs & Porcupines, Old Red Lion, 2018) comes this story of thrill-seeking and delusion, self-deception and the breakdown of trust.
Role Play is one of six original one-act plays that make up the WRiTEON Festival, a celebration of new writing across all three ADC venues: the ADC Auditorium, the Corpus Playroom, and the Larkum Studio. This unique collection spans genres, themes and styles. Dip in or complete the set for the full experience.
- November 2018
WRiTEON presents a set of short new plays that have been created for Scene at the Museum, a site-specific drama event at the Museum of Cambridge on 2 and 3 November.
The plays have all been inspired by objects and stories from the Museum. Some are comedies, some serious, some historical and some contemporary. Each runs for about 10 to 15 minutes and will be fully staged (i.e. not script in hand) in various rooms in the Museum.
- May–June 2016
Wait … what has just happened? Oh.
In the time it takes a butterfly to flap its wings, whole lives fall apart. We collide or even just brush against each other and in that moment, we cause immense changes. Changes that have practical, legal, emotional, relational or societal consequences which no one could have predicted. With each decision we make, we change the world which, in turn, changes ourselves.
Imogen and Jack are spending a Saturday morning in the park with their daughter Sarah who is going off to university soon. There’s cracks in the family relationships. Meanwhile, Ben is having a hard time coping with his loved one’s depression and is putting his own job at risk. At the same time, Melissa struggles being a single parent with only her friend Clare to confide in. But in a blink of an eye, their worlds are turned upside down by a terrible accident.
Do accidents really happen? Or is everything someone’s responsibility? Could all tragedies be avoided? Unlikely.
But once a tragedy does happen, what remains? What is it that made us who we are and how much of ourselves can we hold on to after an accident that split our lives open?
Butterfly Effect is a collaboratively written piece by local playwrights who have been challenged to explore cause and effect via a new dramaturgical approach. This innovative production is being brought to you by WRiTEON in partnership with Twisted Willow Theatre.
- November 2012
Hats off to new drama!
Head on down for another inspiring series of staged readings of new writing. Sundays only. WRiTEON’s annual autumn/winter offering follows on from a successful summer MaD (Monologues and Duologues) season and the sell-out Corpus Playroom show, ANGLES. It’s called “naked” because there are no fancy sets or elaborate costumes. The focus is on bringing the writers’ ideas to life on stage for the first time in a simple but imaginative way.
There is a different programme on each of the four Sunday evenings; typically comprising four or more pieces. All the plays are short (10-20 minutes) and are performed script in hand by our enthusiastic team of actors in the intimate setting of the ADC Bar. The audience is then invited to comment on the writing.
- October–November 2012
In 1646, The White Horse Inn, in Castle Street, Cambridge, is granted a licence. After nearly 300 years, it closes, reopening in November 1936 as a museum. In September 2012, a group of writers meet there, wander through the rickety old rooms and gaze at the artefacts. They begin to write, each inspired by a different part of the building. The resulting series of five minute plays will be performed in the locations that inspired them, the audience moving in small groups from one to the next.
Ticket price includes a glass of wine or fruit juice and an opportunity to look around the museum again afterwards.
