ONE of the region’s newest and dynamic theatre festivals is going out on the road for the first time.
Ink started in 2015 at the Halesworth Cut Arts Centre in Suffolk with the intention of developing, nurturing and producing the best new short scripts for stage, film and radio from writers with an East Anglian connection.
From ‘pen to performance’ their focus has been on helping writers, whatever their age or experience, to give them the opportunity to work with professional actors and directors mainly through the Ink Festival, an annual weekend of new short plays, musicals, radio and film, which takes place at the Cut in April.
As well as a whole range of workshops, courses, professional development programmes and script surgeries, Ink is now taking the new work it premieres to other theatres across the region.
Visiting nine locations across East Anglia, including the Garage Theatre in Norwich, the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket, and the Headgate Theatre here in Colchester, the tour line-up includes the world premiere of The Famous 5, a unique collaboration by a stellar cast of East Anglia’s most well-known writers.
That includes Notting Hill and Four Weddings screenwriter, Richard Curtis, novelist Esther Freud, and poet Blake Morrison.
Three other pieces of theatre will complete this entertaining showcase of talent from the East of England.
They are The Kiss, by Millie Martin, which reveals a brief encounter between an MP and a model; White Girls, by Madeleine Accalia a breath-taking stomp through the refugee crisis in Calais; and Cold Call, by Ross Dunsmore, when a call-centre romance turns unexpectedly sour.
The full Ink Festival takes place from April 7 and 8 when Colchester playwright Griff Scott has two plays being performed, 147, and radio play Sleeping Through, which is being directed by Blackadder actress Helen Atkinson Wood.
Ink on the Road arrives at the Headgate Theatre, Chapel Street North, Colchester, on April 11 at 7.45pm.
For tickets call the box office on 01206 366000 or go on-line at www.headgatetheatre.co.uk
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