Hightide Reveals First Group Of Playwrights For New Hightide Writers Group

Hightide has announced the six east of England playwrights who have been selected to form the new HighTide Writers Group. Joining the Writers Group are Anoop B. Singh, Clare Currie, Esohe Uwadiae, Marie Cooper, Rosa Torr and Ted Marriott. This first cohort of playwrights will now embark on a paid year-long development programme facilitated by leading playwrights Juliet Gilkes Romero and Tim Price.

Clare Slater, Artistic Director of HighTide said today, “I couldn't be more thrilled with the six exceptional playwrights we have selected to form our first HighTide Writers Group. We were overwhelmed by the number and quality of applicants from across the East of England - once again proving that the region is a seedbed of great writing talent. Our chosen six writers are going to have a brilliant year working with the super-talented leading playwrights Juliet Gilkes Romero and Tim Price; so, keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to see what the group are working on later this year.

My heartfelt thanks to the visionary funders of our new HighTide Writers Group - the Foyle Foundation and Noël Coward Foundation. Their support means a new generation of East Anglian playwrights can thrive.”

The new HighTide Writers Group is funded by the Foyle Foundation and the Noël Coward Foundation.

Biographies

Anoop B. Singh is a British Punjabi writer who lives in Ipswich and works across East Anglia. Anoop has long been fascinated with the characters, creatures and motifs of mythology and folklore, which often serve as deep wells of inspiration, drawn up to reflect upon, or juxtapose against, contemporary society. Anoop creates socially and ecologically conscious narratives, interwoven with imagery borrowed from local ecology and nature. Anoop's writing is usually a synthesis of genres, bringing together fairy tale, horror, sci-fi and comedy, rooted in themes of identity, injustice, family and trauma.

Clare Currie lives in Great Yarmouth and writes about the power and resilience of women's bodies, muscle memory, female camaraderie and the maternal habits of Pelicans! She received Arts Council funding to develop her creative practice, culminating in her first one- person theatre piece Cold Snap – in collaboration with Jumped Up Theatre – which wrestles with the demands of motherhood, the  ageing process and the joy of playing sport. She has written for Eastern Angles – Spilling Convention, The Trials of Mary and Paines Plough – A Little Understood, was Peterborough Poet Laureate 2017-19 and is a founding member of Syntax Poetry Festival.

Esohe Uwadiae is a writer and visual artist. Her theatre credits include She is a Place Called Home (VAULT Festival), Sister, Sister (Pleasance Theatre) and A Lesson in Shrinking (Almeida Theatre). In 2023, her play Pots and Pans and Prayers was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Playwriting and the Alfred Fagon Award. She has been part of programmes with The Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre and the Old Vic Theatre.  

Marie Cooper is a Norwich-based playwright, explores class, identity, and societal privilege in her work. Her writing credits include Abandoned Places (part of ‘Spirit of the Place,' Slow Theatre). In 2021 her short play The Jade Palace was selected for a live readthrough by The Literal Challenge. . Marie enjoys exploring a diverse range of themes, including technology, memory, loss, and social commentary, in her storytelling. She loves delving into morally grey characters, aiming to evoke emotion and leave audiences pondering long after the curtain falls.

Rosa Torr is a Norwich-based interdisciplinary writer, dramaturg and producer.Her theatre work resonates with the peculiar experience of being human, exploring relationships and identity within the context of a chaotic socio-political landscape. Her theatre credits include Gun to your Head (VAULT Festival), RATTUS RATTUS: the epic tale of man vs rat (Norfolk and Norwich Festival, National Centre for Writing), The Creation Station (First Light Festival), Sea Her (Directors Cut Theatre), Shapes (Extract) (Soho Theatre), Bump (TARA Arts, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Smock Alley Theatre, Waterstones), Unnamed solo work (1-2-1 Festival) (Battersea Arts Centre). Her radio credits include Creative Lives (various works) for BBC Radio.  She is Associate Producer at Collusion, and Producer/Dramaturg with punk theatre troupe Dakota Collective who are shortlisted for Edinburgh Untapped Award (New Diorama Theatre/Underbelly) 2024 and shortlisted for Charlie Hartill Award (Pleasance Theatre) 2024.  

Ted Marriott is a writer and performer from Suffolk based in West London. He is an alumnus of the Old Vic Theatre Makers, the Bush Theatre Emerging Writer's Group and received a year's mentorship in scriptwriting from Arts Emergency. Ted's writing is particularly inspired by Tennessee William's Plastic Theatre form, and he's interested in scripts that explore our relationship to history, temporalities, space, and politics. Alongside his solo writing, he is a theatre-maker with the emerging theatre company Five Pigeons Pecking a Bin Bag.  

Tim Price's plays include For Once, Salt Root and Roe (Trafalgar Studios), Demos, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning (National Theatre Wales), I'm With the Band (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, St James Theatre), Protest Song (National Theatre) and The Internet Is Serious Business (Royal Court Theatre). He is associate playwright at the Traverse theatre and co-founder of Welsh new writing company Dirty Protest.

Juliet Gilkes Romero's theatre credits include The Whip (Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre), The Gift, 15 Heroines: The Labyrinth (Jermyn Street Theatre), Day of the Living (The Other Palace), Uppercut (Southwark Playhouse), At the Gates of Gaze (Birmingham Repertory Theatre and UK tour), and Bilad Al-Sudan (Kiln Theatre). Her television credits include Soon Gone: A Windrush Chronicle. She is currently under commission with Neal Street Productions, Royal Shakespeare Company, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and Synergy Theatre.

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