Flagship Festival Brings New Writing To Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

NEW, the Royal Welsh College’s flagship festival of new writing comes to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama from March 17 – 19 2020.

The ground-breaking festival brings some of the UK’s most exciting writers and directors to work with the College’s final year students to create challenging, provocative and ambitious contemporary theatre in collaboration with some of the most important new writing companies in the UK: Gate Theatre, Paines Plough, Royal Court Theatre and Sherman Theatre.

The College’s Richard Burton Company will premiere four new plays in Cardiff before transferring to London’s Gate Theatre from March 31 to April 3 2020.

Since its launch seven years ago the Royal Welsh College’s pioneering NEW writing season has produced 28 new challenging and ambitious plays. New Writing has always been a vital part of the College’s drama training ethos, and alongside the College’s many other premieres and adaptations, it aims to diversify the canon and empower the next generation of actors as creatives, as well as the writers and directors.

One of the key aspects of NEW’s success has been the pairing of some of the most exciting established and emerging playwrights and brilliant young directors; working with long-term partners and collaborators, Paines Plough, Royal Court Theatre, Sherman Theatre, and the Gate Theatre; and benefiting from experienced directors as dramaturg’s such as Adele Thomas (Globe/Royal Opera House) and Jude Christian (Gate Theatre/Royal Court/Lyric Hammersmith).

Director of Performance Dave Bond explains:

“The NEW season has become woven into the fabric of what we strive to be as a College. It empowers our student actors, technicians and designers as creatives, nurturing their agency for their future careers. The College has also been a creative force, commissioning new work in both English and Welsh for the last 15 years, and we’re proud of making such an important contribution to the industry the students are about to enter.”

Vicky Featherstone Royal Court Theatre Artistic Director said

“The NEW project is a uniquely symbiotic relationship between the professional and educational sectors which for us the Royal Court has been invaluable. The opportunity to offer commissions to write for big casts for our writers and partner them with our trainee directors to develop and create the work is exceptional and to work with the students whose ability and creativity is thrilling is a precious gem.”

Rachel O’Riordan, Artistic Director of The Lyric, Hammersmith commented

”Working in co-production with the Royal Welsh College on the NEW project was one of the great delights of my time as Artistic Director of the Sherman, Not only did it give us an opportunity to showcase new Welsh writers, over time it allowed us to partner those writers with members of our Sherman Directors’ Group. The opportunity for emerging artists to work with playwrights at the early stage of a play’s development is vital. I am so happy the partnership has continued, and that audiences will continue to benefit, for years to come, from the investment made by everyone in this idea.”

Featured in this years New 2020 season will be Ripples by Tracy Harris directed by Matthew Holmquist in collaboration with Sherman Theatre. Yasmin Joseph’s play Half Full, working with Royal Court Theatre, will be directed by Milli Bhatia. After Rhinoceros: The Red Pill by Nessah Muthy, adapted from Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Debbie Hannan for The Gate Theatre and Moon Licks by Charlotte Josephine will be directed by Hannah Hauer-King for Paines Plough.

• Full festival details can be found by visiting http://www.rwcmd.ac.uk

• UPDATED MARCH 22: SHOWS SCHEDULED AFTER THIS DATE HAVE NOW BEEN POSTPONED OR CANCELLED DUE TO THE UK GOVERNMENT ADVICE REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC – PLEASE CHECK BOX OFFICES FOR DETAILS.