University of Edinburgh, English Literature

10/02/2023

Congratulations to MSc Playwriting graduate Francisca da Silveira for being shortlisted for this major international Playwriting award.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the oldest and largest playwriting prize honoring women+ writing for the English-speaking theatre.

30/09/2020

J'Ouvert by Yasmin Joseph wins the James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2020. With {BLANK] by Alice Birch and seven methods of killing kylie jenner by Jasmine Lee Jones shortlisted.

An energetic play about the experiences of two best friends during a carnival of Caribbean culture has won the James Tait Black Prize for Drama.

26/08/2020

Our Msc Playwriting graduate Amy Rhianne Milton's new commissioned play Matterhorn goes live on Traverse Theatre website tomorrow.

Rule-breaking artfully and with purpose – we chat to 2019 Playwriting graduate Amy Rhianne Milton about her new play Matterhorn, and about being longlisted for the inaugural Women's Prize for Playwriting.

You can listen to Matterhorn as part of Breakfast Plays at Traverse 3 between Thurs 27 Aug and Weds 9 Sept online - free / by donation (link in interview).

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/news/meet-our-graduates-amy-rhianne-milton

18/08/2020

Thought-provoking plays exploring themes of criminal justice, race and the dark side of social media have been shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Drama.

31/07/2020

Congratulations to two of our graduates.

02/07/2020

Congratulations to our recent graduate from MSc Playwriting, Francisca da Silveira, who has been chosen to be part of the Emerging Writers Group 2020-22 at The Public Theater NYC.

The Public Theater announced today the 10 new playwrights for the 2020-2022 Emerging Writers Group. Now in its eighth cycle, the Emerging Writers Group is an ongoing initiative that targets playwrights at the earliest stages of their career, creating an artistic home and offering support and resourc...

04/01/2020

MSc Playwriting graduate Joanna Glum's short work "Playday" has been published in the recent edition of The Brooklyn Review.

The Woman’s up in the treehouse, The Stranger can’t go back to work until he makes sure The Girl is alright, and The Girl just wants to bury her brain. She’s great at playing, she knows, but she’d …

30/04/2018

Reader in Writing for Performance (English Literature) and professional playwright, Nicola McCartney, is co-leading this weekend master class at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June if you are interested in exploring making stage plays through physical as well as verbal communication.

This unique course is for both deaf and hearing speakers who are interested in making

27/04/2018

https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/news/meet-our-graduates-brandon-shalansky

Originally from British Columbia, Brandon completed our MSc in Playwriting and now works between the UK and Canada where he’s under commission with the Fred Skeleton Theatre Company.

20/04/2018

We are still taking applications for our Masters in Playwriting. Here is what some of our graduates have been up to since graduating from our unique degree and what they say about the programme.

Career opportunities for Playwriting graduates.

29/09/2017

Class Act: International Symposium 2017
Thurs 23- Fri 24th November, 2017, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
The Traverse Theatre in Association with The University of Edinburgh

Booking is now open for this first international symposium on the Traverse Theatre Company’s Class Act project. Class Act has been delivered by the Traverse Theatre across twenty-five successful years, working with young people across the central-belt of Scotland, and even reaching Moscow and Ukraine. Through the programme, young people are mentored by professional playwrights to develop and write their own scripts for the stage. Following a process of creative workshops, the finished plays are performed by a professional company. The key objectives of the project are to improve attainment through expanding literacy skills, encouraging active contribution in group situations and developing confidence by providing participants with an empowering opportunity to work with professional theatre makers.
This symposium will bring together playwrights, theatre producers, teachers, former student participants and academics with an interest in Applied Theatre practices, to reflect on the project, it’s methodology, history and future. There will be guest speakers from Russia and Ukraine and further afield.

Programme for the Symposium
Thurs 23rd November
7.30pm Performance of Class Act Scotland 2017
Fri 24th November
9.00am Registration + Tea & Coffee + Pastries
9.30 – 11am Panel 1: Class Act – A History
11 – 11.30am Break
11.30 – 1pm Panel 2: Class Act in the Post-Soviet Space: Russia, Caucasus and Ukraine
1-2pm Lunch
2 – 3.30pm Panel 3: Theatre in Education: Current Practice & Methodologies
3.30-4pm Break
4 – 5.30pm Panel 4: Class Act – Now & Next
5.30pm Ends

Tickets:
Full price - £25, includes coffee and pastry at registration, a ticket to the performance of Class Act Scotland on Thurs 23rd November at 7.30pm, and lunch on Friday 24th November, as well as a free glass of wine at the close of the symposium
Student/ Concession (incl. entertainment Union) Rate: £12.50
Half day rate: £12.50 (includes lunch on Fri 24th November)
Tickets can be purchased via Traverse Theatre website and Box office 0131 228 1404
Accommodation in Edinburgh:
You can find your own independent accommodation or book through University of Edinburgh’s guest accommodation services via this link:
Tickets can be purchased via Traverse Theatre website and Box office 01312281404
Box office link:
https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event-detail/1309/class-act--international-symposium-2017.aspx

Further Information:
About the symposium: Nicola McCartney, Reader, University of Edinburgh: [email protected]
About Class Act: Sunniva Ramsay, Creative Producer (Learning) Traverse Theatre: [email protected]

Class Act has been delivered by the Traverse Theatre across 25 successful years, working with young people across the central belt of Scotland, and even reaching Moscow and Ukraine.

19/09/2017

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-reading-of-the-cantos-of-ezra-pound-cantos-of-the-1920s-tickets-2802009887

Ezra Pound's monumental poem The Cantos is the longest and most sustained literary effort made by a poet of the modernist generation in any language. It took half a century to write: begun before World War I, it was continued to the end of the 1960s.This event, sponsored by The Cantos Project at the...