Search

Professional Writers Programme 2017-2019

The Professional Writers Programme was launched in January 2017 with the aim of making a step change for BESEA writers supporting the development of full length scripts over a two year period.

Four early career writers Kyo Choi, Joanne Lau, Amy Ng and Julie Tsang were selected to take part in this intensive new scheme with the aim of developing four new plays for New Earth Theatre to produce.

This programme supports the development of their ideas and craft by providing support from industry experts and will be led by programme leader and dramaturg Caroline Jester.

The two years culminated with staged readings of the plays written on the programme as part of TyphoonWEST at Soho Theatre in March 2019.

The plays

Worth by Joanne Lau

Hours before their mother’s funeral, the Yeung siblings gather in the family home for the first time in years, only to discover their inheritance is missing. With seemingly only £44 cash to her name and the house due to be repossessed, where has all the money gone? Tensions escalate as they race to find it, uncovering ugly truths and shocking family secrets along the way.

Inspired by true events, WORTH takes a darkly comic look at family loss and sibling rivalry. Straddling two cultures, this biting new comedy asks the question – where do you put your worth?

Fix by Julie Tsang

When Kevin responds to a call out to repair Li Na’s washing machine, little does he know what is in store for him. In doing a good deed for her, Kevin finds himself inexplicably drawn to this strange woman and her house in the woods.
Dark and unsettling, Fix is a modern fairy tale which goes to the very heart of gender politics, asking if we can ever really mend what is already broken.

The Apology by Kyo Choi

How should a nation apologise for the crimes of its past?
Seoul, 1995. Yuna is about to uncover a shameful family secret while Priyanka, the first U.N. - appointed investigator into violence against women probes the harrowing circumstances of wartime “comfort women.” 

Thatcher in China by Amy Ng

Margaret Thatcher goes to war with China for Hong Kong fresh from her triumph in the Falklands.  She arrives in Beijing, Winston Churchill in tow, to fight on the beaches herself if necessary.  Chinese Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping has problems of his own. Chairman Mao, though embalmed and entombed, refuses to lie down.  What’s more, the Paramount Leader has been constipated for months, losing Hong Kong would simply be the last straw.  Mixing fact and fantasy, Amy Ng’s Thatcher In China explores what happens when dreams of empire refuse to die. 

The Apology and Thatcher in China had further development with the support of the National Theatre.

New Earth Theatre
The Albany
Douglas Way
Deptford
London
SE8 4AG

+44(0) 20 8694 6631
admin@newearththeatre.org.uk

Join our mailing list

Privacy Policy | Shop | Jobs
New Earth Theatre © 2024
Registered charity No. 1047991
Registered company No. 3045132