We鈥檙e delighted to announce the very first generation of Welsh Voices, a writers group for invited Welsh or Wales-based writers with the aim of getting commissioned scripts. This talented bunch will be joining us on a year-long development programme consisting of masterclasses, workshops, industry introductions and bespoke writing opportunities.
RACHEL TREZISE
Rachel Trezise鈥檚 debut novel In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. In 2006 her first short fiction collection Fresh Apples won the Dylan Thomas Prize. Her second short fiction collection Cosmic Latte, won the Edge Hill Prize Readers Award in 2014. Her first play Tonypandemonium was produced by National Theatre Wales in 2013. The script was published in Bloomsbury's Contemporary Welsh Plays. Her second play for National Theatre Wales & Common Wealth Theatre, We鈥檙e Still Here, premiered in September 2017. Her debut novel is about to be reissued in the Library of Wales series. A novel called Wonderful is forthcoming. She鈥檚 currently working on a third short fiction collection and a new theatre production with RCT Theatres. Rachel has written drama for Radio 4 (Lemon Meringue Pie) and Radio Wales (Driving Home for Christmas).
DARRAGH MORTELL
Darragh is a London based, Welsh award winning film director and 大象传媒 commissioned writer. He cites his biggest filmmaking influences as Charlie Kaufman and Spike Lee for their unique takes on the world, mixing social realism and surrealism to great cinematic effect. Darragh鈥檚 political satire Donald Mohammed Trump garnered praise from news outlets on both sides of the pond aswell as receiving multiple screenings including one at BFI Southbank. His East London musical comedy focused on diversity (Beauty in the Street) also earned critical success and reached 30 thousand online views in just a few days.
Darragh has recently been commissioned by 大象传媒 Writersroom to write a comedy drama short on Mental Health for 大象传媒 iplayer which will also play out as part of a longer half hour on 大象传媒 Wales. He is also part of the writing team on a new audio podcast series which is being developed by 大象传媒 Writersroom in collaboration with Jessica Dromgoole for 大象传媒3.
LUCY RIVERS
Lucy is a writer, composer, actor, and musician, and is co-founder of the multi-award-winning Cardiff-based Theatre company Gagglebabble. For Gagglebabble she has written and performed in; SINNERS CLUB (The Other Room, Theatr Clwyd, Soho Theatre), WONDERMAN (National Theatre Wales and Wales Millennium Centre), THE FORSYTHE SISTERS (Chapter), and THE BLOODY BALLAD (Theatr Iolo) which won her six awards including best Music and Musical at MTN What鈥檚 On Stage awards and Brighton Fringe award for Best Emerging talent. Other writing credits include; THE DEVIL鈥橲 VIOLIN (大象传媒 Radio 4), LITTLE SURE SHOT (The Egg and West Yorkshire Playhouse) and FALLOUT (The Other Room Young People鈥檚 Festival).
BRAD BIRCH
Brad Birch is a multi-award winning playwright whose work has been produced across Europe, Russia and the USA. His plays include: The Brink (Orange Tree Theatre); Black Mountain (Paines Plough); Gardening for the Unfulfilled and Alienated (Undeb); Even Stillness Breathes Softly Against A Brick Wall (Soho Theatre); The Endless Ocean (RWCMD). His adaptations include: An Enemy of the People (RWCMD/Guthrie Theater) and The Metamorphoses (RSC). In 2016 he was the recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission at the Royal Court. Brad is keen to move into screenwriting and has just been selected for Philip Shelley鈥檚 Channel 4 screenwriting programme. Brad is a radio drama enthusiast.
KATHERINE CHANDLER
Katherine is an award winning Welsh stage and screenwriter whose work has been produced by companies such as the 大象传媒, Blue Angel Films, Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, Clean Break Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Sherman Theatre and the National Theatre of Wales.
Katherine was twice a finalist for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn award for 鈥楶arallel Lines鈥� which was produced by Dirty protest and was is a winner of the 大象传媒 and National Theatre Wales inaugural Wales Drama Award, a Creative Wales Award and a Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play 鈥楤ird鈥�.
Most recently her script Tag has been selected as part of the iPlayer shorts scheme for 大象传媒 developed by 大象传媒 Studios Drama in London.
MATT HARTLEY
Matt studied Drama at the University of Hull and now lives with his family in Cardiff. Matt鈥檚 first play Sixty Five Miles won a Bruntwood Award in the inaugural Bruntwood Competition and was produced by Paines Plough/Hull Truck. Matt's recent plays Here I Belong (Pentabus Theatre) and Deposit (Hampstead Theatre) have both been brought back and had extended runs due to popular demand and critical acclaim. Other work for theatre includes: Myth ( RSC) ; Horizon (National Theatre Connections); Microcosm (Soho Theatre) The Bee (Edinburgh Festival); Punch (Hampstead / Heat and Light Company); Epic, Trolls, Life for Beginners (Theatre503). Radio credits include: The Pursuit (nominated for the Imison Award) and Final Call ( Radio 4).
Matt worked as a storyliner and wrote several episodes of Hollyoaks for Channel 4. Matt鈥檚 work is regularly performed in Europe and his play Burning Cars, which won the Best Foreign Play at the French Theatre Awards, will receive it鈥檚 world premier in Paris in 2018. Matt is currently writing new plays for the Hampstead Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Sherman and his new epic play Eyam will be performed at Shakespeare鈥檚 Globe in Sept 2018.
HUW DAVIES
Huw Davies grew up in Nantyffyllon, near Maesteg. His first piece of fiction was a 鈥榙aft book for boys鈥� titled Scrambled and was short-listed for the Heart of Hawick Children's Literature Award. He has adapted Scrambled into his first screenplay 鈥� a warm coming of age comedy drama set in a close knit welsh community. The script was shortlisted for this years 大象传媒 Drama room and Writersroom Wales are currently developing him. Huw writes in Welsh and English.
ALAN HARRIS
Alan is one of the most distinctive theatre writers working in Wales at the moment. Born and bought up in Llantrisant South Wales, he鈥檚 been a prolific writer for theatre since 2010 with plays such as A Good Night out in The Valleys for the National Theatre Wales, How My Light Is Spent which won the Judges award at the Bruntwood prize and Sugarbaby which received rave reviews at Edinburgh this year.
John McGrath directed his The Opportunity of Efficiency at the New National Theatre Tokyo (a collaboration with National Theatre Wales) and other writing credits include: A Scythe Of Time (New York Musical Festival), The Future For Beginners (liveartshow/Wales Millennium Centre), Marsha (Capital Fringe, Washington DC), A Good Night Out in the Valleys (National Theatre Wales), Rhinegold, Manga Sister (both for liveartshow at The Yard, London), The Journey (Welsh National Opera MAX), Cardboard Dad (Sherman Cymru), Miss Brown To You (Hijinx Theatre), and Orange (Sgript Cymru).
He has written several plays for 大象传媒 Radio 4 and Radio 3. He is also part of the 2017 大象传媒 Drama Room scheme and Doctors Shadow scheme. 大象传媒 writersroom Wales have also commissioned him to write a comedy drama short on Mental health for 大象传媒 Wales.
FFLUR DAFYDD
Fflur Dafydd is an award winning writer who writes in Welsh and English. She is the creator and writer of all 24 episodes of PARCH, the popular returning BAFTA Cymru nominated series for S4C, which is now in its third series. She is the writer and co-producer of the feature film Y Llyfrgell/The Library Suicides, based on her own book which was released in 2016, which won the Best Performance Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival as well as a BAFTA Cymru for best director and a BAFTA Cymru Nomination for Best Writer. She is also the co-director of Ffilm Ffolyn, a film production company she founded with multi award winning director Euros Lyn. In 2016 she was longlisted for a BIFA for debut screenwriter and in 2017 received a BAFTA Cymru nomination for best writer.
She is also a novelist and singer songwriter. Her novel 鈥楾wenty Thousand Saints鈥� won the Emerging Writer award at the Hay Festival in 2009, and she became an International Fellow of the Hay Festival in 2013. She has also participated in Iowa University鈥檚 world renowned International Writing Program, and is a graduate of UEA鈥檚 creative writing course.
Her current project is '35 Awr' (35 hours), an eight part thriller which will be broadcast on S4C in November 2018. She is also developing her second feature film with support from Ffilm Cymru Wales, and developing a theatre piece with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru.
DAF JAMES
Daf is an award-winning writer, composer and performer, working in theatre, radio and television in both English and Welsh. His first full-length play Llwyth [Tribe] became a Welsh-language cultural phenomenon and established him as one of the most exciting dramatists working in Wales.
His stage show My Name is Sue, co-written with Ben Lewis, won a Total Theatre Award for Music and Theatre. He has also written plays for National Theatre Wales, the National Theatre and is now developing a new play, The Diana Chronicles, co-commissioned by the Sherman Theatre, Theatr Clwyd and the Royal Court.
Radio credits include My Mother Taught Me How to Sing and Terrace. Screen credits include Crackanory, Psychobitches and Gwaith/Cartref (10 episodes); and he is currently developing an original show, Beast, with Scott Free Productions and Channel 4.
Daf is also a composer and has written the score for Tiger Bay, a large scale musical, co-produced by the Wales Millennium Centre and Cape Town Opera, which opens in Cardiff in November.
BEN PARTRIDGE
Benjamin is primarily a comedy writer who has written for C大象传媒's Horrible Histories, Channel 4's The Last Leg and also writes and produces the Beef and Dairy Network Podcast, which won Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards in 2017 and was picked up by 大象传媒 Radio 4.
On 大象传媒 Radio Wales he writes the sitcom The Accidental AM, is one of the cast and a co-writer of Elis James's Pantheon of Heroes and he also co-wrote and produced Here Be Dragons, which won Bronze at the Radio Academy Awards in 2014. Amongst his other writing credits are The News Quiz, Rich Hall's Election Breakdown and Small Scenes for 大象传媒 Radio 4 and script editing Newsjack for 大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra. A sitcom that Partridge co-wrote with Gareth Gwynn, Ankle Tag, was broadcast on大象传媒 Radio 4 in 2017.
SI脗N OWEN
Si芒n Owen has won the Oxford Playhouse New Writing Competition and she has been on attachment with Sherman Cymru on their Advanced Writers Group and has been part of the Royal Court Studio Group. She has written for Dirty Protest, The Other Room and Theatre 503. Her play This Land for Pentabus and Salisbury Playhouse toured nationally in 2016. She is currently under commission by Box of Tricks Theatre Company and 大象传媒 Radio 4 for her first afternoon drama Pieces.
ALYN FARROW
Alyn鈥檚 first short film, The Homing Bird was produced by 大象传媒 Wales and It鈥檚 My Shout Productions, and subsequently nominated for a BAFTA Cymru Award (Best Short).
Alyn was runner up for the 大象传媒 Wales Drama Award and was commissioned to write treatments for two original dramas - Clandestine and Westphalia. A pilot script for Westphalia was subsequently commissioned and developed for 大象传媒 Wales Drama between April 2015 and November 2016. In December 2016 he was shortlisted for the 4Stories Chanel 4 Drama scheme, and earlier this year he was listed as a winner of the BAFTA Rocliffe TV Drama Showcase for his latest script, The Hand That Mocked Them. Alyn is currently on the 大象传媒 Writersroom Drama Room programme.
FOSTER MARKS
Foster began his writing career in film 鈥� writing shorts and features. In search of new material Foster joined the Territorial Army and specialised as a radio operator, going on to serve two tours of Helmand province, Afghanistan. His experience there inspired him to write his first stage play 鈥榯he Sanger鈥�. On his return to the UK he completed the first draft and submitted it to Sherman Cymru who picked it up for development and invited Foster to join their advanced writers programme, and 鈥榯he Sanger鈥� was produced as part of the Sheman Theatre's RAW season. Foster has since completed his second play and is working on new film and television projects.
More success in writing competitions followed being selected as a finalist for the Touch Paper TV annual writing competition, the Red Planet new writing initiative, the Tri-force creative network writing slam and twice selected for the 大象传媒 Writers Room mentorship programme.
TIM PRICE
Tim Price started out writing for theatre and is co-founder of Cardiff underground theatre company Dirty Protest. His television credits include: Switch, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Sold! The New Worst Witch (ITV), The Smoke (Sky), Eastenders, Holby City, Casualty, Doctors, River City (大象传媒) Caerdydd, Y Pris (S4C, nominated for Bafta Cymru best screenwriter, winner of Best drama at Celtic Film and TV Festival 2009. Best drama nomination for Prix Europa 2008.) Tim's theatre credits include: Candylion, the insatiable inflatable (National Theatre Wales), The Internet is Serious Business (Royal Court), Protest Song (National Theatre), I'm With the Band (Traverse theatre/Wales Millennium Centre tour) Praxis Makes Perfect (National Theatre Wales/Barbican tour), The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning (National Theatre Wales tour, winner of the James Tait Black Award best play), Salt, Root and Roe (Donmar Warehouse - nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an affiliate theatre), Demos (Traverse Theatre) For Once (Pentabus Theatre/Hampstead theatre tour). He is currently lecturing in the screenwriting MA at Manchester University.
LISA JEN BROWN
Lisa is an Actor, Singer, writer and a songwriter and was selected part of the last 大象传媒鈥檚 Writersroom 10. Her short play Did to Me was recently broadcasted on The Verb 大象传媒 Radio 3. Other 大象传媒 Radio play credits include Summer is Long to Come for 大象传媒 Radio Wales and Allan o鈥檙 Byd / Out of This World for 大象传媒 Radio Cymru 2016.
Lisa wrote and performed TUNA for Dirty Protest Theatre as part of Plays in a Bag which showcased Welsh writers at the Almeida and Royal Court in London.
In 2013 Lisa won the Sherman Cymru script slam at the National Eisteddfod with her Welsh language play EIRA.
Lisa is the main songwriter and composer for her band 9Bach, recently signed to Peter Gabriel 鈥檚 RealWorld Records and their second album 'Tincian' won Best Album at The 大象传媒 Radio 2 folk Awards 2015. More recently 9Bach have released their third album ANIAN, that鈥檚 been critically acclaimed by the national, monthly and online press, also national 大象传媒 Radio 2 and Radio 4 Front Row. In April this year , Lisa created, wrote, performed, directed and produced the sell out performance of the multi arts show 鈥� Llechi鈥� at Pontio Arts Centre, Bangor.
Her short film Elen, commissioned by S4C/EBU will be released later this year. It was written and composed by Lisa, and produced by Ie Ie Productions.