Christmas break

She Writes will be taking  a break over the New Year, but watch this space for further news in 2013!

Thanks to all our supporters, audiences and casts - who you can find out more about on the 17Percent blog.

She Writes presents 'Passions'

Here are some images from our Passions themed night of short plays on 5 December. We will be adding links to the plays on youtube shortly.

Nigel Banks and Sadie Hurley in 'Fish on a plate' by Maggie Drury

Maggie Drury's short play 'Fish on a plate' was about a very strange couple - one whose passion is words and the other whose passion is glass!

Amy Flight in 'Such a nice girl, by Melissa Keighley

'Such a nice girl' by Melissa Keighley told a dark tale of a woman whose desire to have her own space leads to murder.



Sadie Hurley and Nigel Banks in 'Nigel the dark destroyer' by Sarah Davies

Sarah Davies' 'Nigel the dark destroyer' told the hilarious tale of a goat who could well be possessed by Satan...

Amy Flight and Sadie Hurley in 'The Star and the Painted Snipe' by Sam Hall

'The Star and the Painted Snipe' by Sam Hall is the first stage of a play about Aphra Behn. It will be developed into a longer piece.

Sarah Davies and Sadie Hurley in 'Cascade of baubles' by Ali Kemp and Deborah Klayman

 Whoop'n'wail (Ali Kemp and Deborah Klayman) gave us a really dark story of domestic abuse with an intriguing reverse structure 'Cascade of Baubles'.

Sarah Davies, Amy Flight and Sadie Hurley in 'Slainte' by SM Jenkin

'Slainte' by SM Jenkin told the story of the 'new agey-est' of  new age therapists and a very stressed out client.

She Writes December 2012

She Writes in December is all about our passions and obsessions! We're really looking forward to seeing into our writers' psyches!

As it's the last She Writes before Christmas we will also be hosting a poetry open mic - open to both men and women.

You will have a 5 minute slot and we ask that you read a maximum of 3 poems on the topic of your passions/obsessions during this time (depending on how many open mic-ers attend your slot might be shorter.)

She Writes - Passions
5 December 2012
7pm for a 7.30pm start
The Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable
£5 or £4 concessions

'Passions' - 5 December 2012

We have confirmed a slot in December for an event themed around 'Passions'. The deadline is not till 31 October - so you have a while to get inspired.

What are you passionate about? What is your obsession? Maybe the popularity of Mr Grey has made you see red. Perhaps caravans are the things that you most adore. Maybe you are a secret philatelist...
Please feel free to interpret the theme very broadly.

Due to time constraints we can only accept plays of a maximum 8 minutes, as we want to be able to showcase as many plays as possible. To see some guidelines on submitting your work and what to expect if your play is chosen have a look here.

'What is art?' - 12 September 2012

We are happy to announce that we have a brilliant variety of short plays to provoke and please, on 12 September.

The theme is 'What is art?'. We chose this theme as the event is happening during the Whitstable Biennale; a time when a creative part of Kent gets even more creative.


We will be presenting:
Joined at the Hip by Sally Whyte
Drawing A Blank by Sioned Jones
Graf by Sam Hall
My Bloody Laundrette by Deborah Klayman and Ali Kemp
The Arrangement by Maggie Drury
Pink Lady by Tracy Harris
Who Knows Art? by Karen Bartholemew


This show will mark a year of She Writes and take the total number of plays performed to 41 and the number of playwrights we have showcased to 31!

Join us and help celebrate a year of showcasing women's plays.

(And check out our She Writes bunting!!!)

Almost a year of She Writes!

We have been running She Writes nights for almost a year now, in fact with our September show it will be a year, so here's a little summary of what we have achieved with the showcase.

She Writes showcase nights are a fun, relaxed way to spend an evening and watch some work by women writers. They are held in the informal setting of the Horsebridge Centre’s bar-cafe. They are held on a roughly 2-monthly schedule.

Since the showcase started in October 2011, we have showcased an incredible 34 short plays from 26 different writers. We were also invited to take She Writes to Lounge on the Farm, so took a show written by some of our Kent writers to this festival. UK-based women writers are invited to submit plays on a loose theme to each event and we have showcased a real range of styles and topics.

The next show at The Horsebridge Centre is on 12 September, and is part of Whitstable’s Biennale Satellite. The topic we asked for submissions on was ‘What is art?’ and we have a really good selection of answers to this. Come along and celebrate as we take the total of plays by women that we’ve showcased to over 40!

'What is art?' 12 September 2012

What is art? poster

The next She Writes is on 12 September as part of the Whitstable Biennale Satellite - the topic will be 'What is art?' We have a great selection of short plays by women to showcase! Come along and help us celebrate a year of She Writes - where we will have showcased over 40 short plays by women.

She Writes presents ‘What is art?’
12 September 2012, 7pm
The Horsebridge Centre bar-cafe,
Whitstable, Kent CT5 1AF (Map)
£5/4 concs

Lounge on the Farm report

Nigel Banks, Sadie Hurley and Amy Flight in 'See monsters' by 17Percent founder, Sam Hall

Amy Flight, Nigel Banks, Sue Blakesley in 'Enjoy!' by Maggie Drury

Amy Flight, Sadie Hurley and Nigel Banks in 'Bitter Chocolate' by She Writes director Sarah Davies

Amy Flight in 'Just desserts' by Sue Blakesley

Amy Flight, Sadie Hurley and Sue Blakesley in 'At the beginning' by SM Jenkin

We enjoyed taking She Writes to Lounge on the Farm in July 2012, where we showcased 5 short plays from Kent-based women writers, and were pleased that the show had a very mixed audience of adults and children, (we chose family friendly plays as we knew we could get youngsters in the audience!)

We repeated the show at The Horsebridge Centre on 18 July for those who couldn't come to the festival.

The actors preparing!

Lounge on the Farm

We are off to Lounge on the Farm tomorrow! We will be showcasing 5 short plays by Kent-based writers - keeping it local are Maggie Drury, Sarah Davies (who directs She Writes), SM Jenkin, Sam Hall (who programmes and produces She Writes) and Sue Blakesley (who is also performing in the show!) .

The show features a best of line-up from previous shows. The show is called 'Maid in Kent' and was inspired by the fact that the first woman to make a living from writing, Aphra Behn, was from near Canterbury.

If you can't make Lounge on the Farm, then we will be repeating the show at the Horsebridge on 18 July, 7pm onwards.

Other actors appearing in the show are Nigel Banks, Sadie Hurley, and Amy Flight.

Photos from She Writes, 20 June

Karen Neville, Nigel Banks, Sue Blakesley in 'Not at the Allotment' by Alice Gregg

Sue Blakesley in 'Crumble' by Elinor Perry-Smith

Karen Neville, Sam Pearson in 'Life after life' by Sue Donaldson

Sue Blakesley and Nigel Banks in 'Lost property' by Claire Booker

Amy Flight, Nigel Banks, Sadie Hurley in 'Risk Assessment' by Sarah Davies

Nigel Banks in 'Fish n chips' by Katharine Markwick

Amy Flight in 'Sexbomb' (extract) by Lucy Kaufman

Sadie Hurley in 'Taste' by Helen Shay

Come to the next She Writes - 20 June 2012!



Plus raffle for short story goodies! (It is International Short Story Day.)

Line-up for 20 June 2012

The show on 20 June will feature 8 plays, including;
Claire Booker - Lost Property / Sue Donaldson - Life after life / Alice Gregg - Not the allotment / Lucy Kaufman - Sexbomb (extract) / Elinor Perry-Smith - Crumble / Helen Shay – Taste.

They are a really lovely selection of plays - so do come along if you are Kent-based!

She Writes showcases over the summer

There are a few ‘She Writes’ showcases coming up over the next couple of months.
20 June 2012 – ‘Lucky Dip’ at the Horsebridge, Whitstable

The She Writes showcase presents 7 short plays by writers on an open theme. There will be a surprising revelation about a glamorous Hollywood actress, a sixteenth century food taster, and a ventriloquist’s dummy to just give a few hints as to the varied contents of our lucky dip! Full line-up to be confimed later this week.

6 July 2012 – ‘Maid in Kent’ at Lounge on the Farm, Canterbury

We are pleased to be able to announce that we will be performing a show at Lounge on the Farm, in the theatre tent, on Friday afternoon. The time is still to be confirmed – so if you are going – look out for us!

18 July 2012 – ‘Maid in Kent’ at the Horsebridge, Whitstable

And for those who couldn’t make the Lounge on the Farm festival, we will be repeating the plays for our Whitstable audience at the Horsebridge. ‘Maid in Kent’ features 5 of our most popular short plays by Kent-based writers. In the line-up we have aliens, sea monsters, a psycho-killer, cookery show obsessed matrons and a disasterous first date.
Full line up:
Just Desserts by Sue Blakesley
Bitter Chocolate by Sarah Davies
Enjoy by Maggie Drury
At the beginning by SM Jenkin
See monsters by Sam Hall

These last shows will differ slightly from the usual format of rehearsed readings - in that they will be fully rehearsed plays.

Now accepting submissions on any theme! Deadline 12 May 2012

Open submission – lucky dip! Plays on any topic are being accepted, the only considerations are:

• no more than 4 characters (unless clever doubling is possible)
• no longer than 6 minutes (this works out at 6 pages-ish depending on how much is dialogue vs action)
• written by a female playwright based in, or from the UK.

Please email your submissions in Word or PDF format to 17percentevents@gmail.com by the closing date of 12 May.

Watch the videos from International She Writes

The theme for this month’s She Writes was ‘international’ and we showcased 9 short plays all inspired by the theme.

‘International’ by Maggie Drury was a comedy about three women who are trying to set up their own international organisation whilst learning languages.  See it here.

‘Sea monsters’ was a fantastical fable by Sam Hall, set in the time of the sagas. A mendacious story-teller gets his come-uppance at the hands of a feisty bar-wench. See it here.   

 ‘Sunny side’ by Ziella Bryars, told the story of a fantastical journey to America, and why the narrator now can’t stand eggs.  See it here.

‘Under trust’ by Hannah Rodger was an atmospheric tale of an American in Scotland who encounters a ghostly ancestor. See it here.

‘Washington, Wisconsin, Wales, Wigan, Whitstable’ by Sarah Davies was a hilarious, earthy story about lonely man who runs an International Travel Agency but has never been out of Kent.  See it here.

‘Who do you think...?’ by Irina Fridman reminded us that what you see is not always what you get. See it here.

‘Jet Set’ by L Gooding was a conversation between two jet-setting ladies whose lives at first glamorous, grew more desperate at the wine flowed. See it here.

‘Bad Signal’ by SM Jenkin seemingly told the story of the delivery of a television, but there was more to the relationship between mother and daughter than met the eye. See it here.

In the final play of the night, ‘Rotten Fish’ by Carolina Ortega, we had another fantastical tale, this time about a sister who tries to save her brother from kidnappers. See it here.  

Some of the plays were being performed for the first time, and so the She Writes showcases can be a useful step in the development process for a play. All plays that aren’t selected receive brief development notes.

The next She Writes is on 20 June – we are having a lucky dip open submissions policy for this event!  The only considerations are:

■no more than 4 characters (unless clever doubling is possible)

 ■no longer than 6 minutes (this works out at 6 pages-ish depending on how much dialogue vs action)

 ■written by a female playwright based in, or from the UK.

Please email your submissions in Word or PDF format to 17percentevents@gmail.com by the closing date of 12 May.

Submissions for the next She Writes is open...

She Writes on Wednesday was great, we showcased 9 really different short plays, you will be able to see them soon on Youtube. In the meantime, the next theme is an open submission – lucky dip! Plays on any topic are being accepted, the only considerations are:

• no more than 4 characters (unless clever doubling is possible)
• no longer than 6 minutes (this works out at 6 pages-ish depending on how much dialogue vs action)
• written by a female playwright based in, or from the UK.

Please email your submissions in Word or PDF format to 17percentevents@gmail.com by the closing date of 12 May.

Poster for 21 March

We will welcome you onboard!

The plays for our International showcase...

We are please to announce that the plays to be performed on 21 March are:

Under Trust by Hannah Rodger

Jet Set by L Gooding

Bad signal  by S Jenkin

Rotten Fish by Carolina Ortega

International by Maggie Drury

Sunny Side by Ziella Bryars

Who do you think...? by Irina Fridman

*Final line-up is subject to slight changes. Some extra goodies to be confirmed. We advise booking, as we anticipate this show will be popular.

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