Structure: Story Shapes and World Building with Lee Anderson (Zoom)

Online playwriting workshop facilitated by Lee Anderson (Playwright, dramaturg, Literary Associate of Squint and Board Member of the Dramaturgs’ Network).

About the workshop:

Structure is a tough nut to crack. As writers, we spend a lot of time engaged in the challenging task of finding the “right” shape or the “perfect” form for the stories we want to tell. The numerous guidebooks on plot, narrative, and the five act structure testifying to this ongoing challenge, and to our persistent desire to solve it. What methods can we use to construct the narratives of our plays? How might we develop fresh approaches to story structure that push beyond rigid formulas? What tools can we use to find the form that embodies the ideas in our play? This two-hour online workshop will explore theoretical and practical approaches to form, narrative and story. In the session, you will:

• Explore approaches to structuring your play’s story beyond the five-act structure
• Build narrative with the use of story shapes
• Understand and construct your play as a dynamic world
• No preparation required. Open to early-career and mid-career playwrights. 18+

The workshop is pay-what-you-can. Minimum fee of £5 for waged attendees and £3.50 for unwaged attendees. Those who wish to attend but for whom any cost is a barrier can email ldanderson88@gmail.com, as there are a limited number of free tickets available.

Attendees can sign-up here and will receive a Zoom link to the session via email from the facilitator.

Lee Anderson is a writer, dramaturg and workshop leader based in London. He is Literary Associate of the award-winning   theatre company Squint, where he recently co-led The Squint Playwriting Award programme in partnership with Stratford East Theatre and Hackney Empire. He is also a Board Member with the Dramaturg’s Network, the UK’s leading arts   organisation committed to supporting the professional development of freelance dramaturgs’.

As a writer, his work has won The Stage Award (Molly, Pleasance Courtyard, Edfringe, 2015) and has been staged at The    Pleasance, New Diorama Theatre, Old Red Lion, Camden People’s Theatre and Charing Cross Theatre. He has been a   script reader for the Bush Theatre, Finborough Theatre and Park Theatre, and led workshops in writing and dramaturgy for Arcola Theatre, University of West London, Guildhall, and Birkbeck, University of London, and supported the development of hundreds of new scripts as a freelance dramaturg.

“Lee’s workshops encouraged us to find our voice, read like writers and push ourselves. His feedback on my script was detailed, thought provoking and full of useful questions that helped me take the next steps with my project”. – Fran Bushe, writer and actor.