UoB's thriving theatre scene would be nothing without its student playwrights. Epigram Arts' playwright series sees what makes them tick.
Meet Emma!
What inspires you OR How do/did you come up with new ideas/the idea?
Broadly speaking, as a person and writer, I get really influenced by my environment (the people, places and sensory things around me). I’m also inspired by songs and images - before I start a new play, I make a playlist and a really rough mood board so I’ve got a reference point for everything that comes after it.
I get inspired by my friends and family - their mannerisms, the way they express themselves, their perspectives, their perceptions. There have been so many times when someone makes a really offhand, random comment to me that I find profoundly moving or interesting or significant and it creates, or comes up in, a script. No one is safe.
The theatre I engage with also inspires me massively - figuring out and analysing what makes plays tick and trying to understand my emotional responses is so soooo important to me for making new stuff. And Bristol has such a vibrant, rich theatre culture.
The standard of student theatre in Bristol is exceptional, and it both inspires and motivates me to match up - also having such a talented and large community of writers, actors, directors etc to collaborate with and communicate about theatre whenever I want is such a luxury. I feel so inspired every day being a part of it.
Photo by Kazia Royzcki
Did you write it all in a short burst or was it a slow grow?
Unfortunately, I’m all about short bursts - caffeine fuelled all nighters, furiously loud and irritating typing, pending deadlines. "Diamonds are made under pressure" is one of my strongest moral convictions.
Actually, I really envy people that can work more sustainably. It's partly a discipline thing, but mainly a passion thing - when I find myself really fired up on an idea I find myself wanting to completely suspend time until it's finished and on paper - traditional sleeping patterns and uni timetables are entirely disregarded. It’s something I’m definitely working on, especially as I’m moving more towards writing longer pieces - writing a ten minute play in a night is one thing, a 100 page full length play is a bit too blindly optimistic.
Have you ever had an idea that you later realised didn’t work? What happened?
Yeah, all the time. I think part of being confident in yourself and your voice is accepting that sometimes things don’t work out, and that it’s okay to backtrack, amend, revise or abandon. I suppose the nature of writing for performance is that it's a very public medium - if it goes badly, it feels very exposing and disheartening, which is why I think safe, supportive environments like scratch nights and rehearsal and development periods (R&Ds) are so crucial for new writing (and new writers).
I can’t think of anything specific that I completely abandoned (mostly I just revise things or keep them in a draw for a few months), but pretty much everything I write I look back on thinking there are aspects that could have been better. (Example - my Tobacco Factory Showcase piece “Better Left” springs to mind. Really well performed and directed, but wayyyy too complicated for a 15 minute play. In hindsight, I would have either simplified the plot or extended the length of the play. But ultimately, it was written on a development scheme - I learned a lot from it.)
I think self-reflection on what did and didn't work on a piece of new writing is really healthy, and shouldn't be discouraged. I'm very anti-perfect. I think "perfect" and chasing perfection is such a damaging concept and mentality - there are always going to be points of improvement in every script. I don't think any play is ever finished.
Did you ever hit a writers' block?
Haha - is grass green?
What was it like seeing your work on the stage for the first time? Was it as you imagined - how yes/no?
The first time I watched one of my plays staged was when I was about 16. I won a playwriting competition called the Julian Battersby Drama Award, which is an award specifically for emerging writers under the age of 30. As part of that, I went to see the play staged by some actors from The Arts Centre Group. I was really removed from the rehearsal process and really excited to see what they did - with quite an abstract, experimental script - and how they interpreted that. I didn't know what to expect. It felt no different to how it feels every time - it’s incredibly nerve-wracking, vulnerable, exposing, but simultaneously, profoundly moving, exciting and fulfilling.
The fact that they interpreted it really differently to how I would have done it was really rewarding and definitely influences how I work now - I’m not really precious about most of my scripts, if I think the writing is ready to be rehearsed or developed, then I’m generally really happy to leave them in a directors hands and give input sporadically, versus being involved every step of the way - it’s more fulfilling, for me (although - having said that, immediately after watching this very first play I adapted it into one woman show that I directed, acted in and produced - so maybe it brought out the inner control freak in me too. To an extent, it depends on the nature of the project - every play I've had performed has been a completely different experience, and I think that's the way it should be. That way, everything's organic and interesting and natural.)
Photo by James Hall
Do you only write plays or other forms of writing too? If you do, do you feel like that affects your style?
I write all kinds of things, and I'm really interested in the crossovers between different literary mediums. I love dialogue, but I also write a lot of poetry too. My writing's quite abstract now so I steer away from traditional ‘literal’ writing, but I used to write loads of prose at school. For completely chill, relaxation purposes, I write lyrics and music too (a musical is 100% on the cards way way wayyyy in the future).
I love writing letters to my friends, when I have time (I'm notoriously bad at keeping in touch and replying to messages, so being able to exchange big life updates all in one go is such a joy). I also keep a diary, although it's very irregular and messy. Recently, I've started to get more and more into theatre criticism - forcing myself to analyse lots of theatre, a lot of which I'm fairly apathetic towards, makes me question the theatre I watch and the theatre I make.
Writing, in all it's different forms, comes up in every single aspect of my life - what I want to do as a career, my degree, my social life, my relaxation time, the way I experience the world. I'd be such a different person if I didn't engage in all of that. My plays are influenced immensely by it all.
Look out for the next in our series of 'Meet the playwright' with Megan Good.
Canva / Gabi Spiro
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