Liverpool’s first festival of one act plays opens next week. Laura Davis finds out more

FOR nine days starting next week Liverpool’s Actors Studio will be buzzing with activity as 10 playwrights get to see their works performed in front of an audience for the first time.

It’s the inaugural year of Write Now, a festival of one-act plays, and if the participants’ enthusiasm is anything to go by it will soon become part of the city’s annual events calendar.

“It was just one of those opportunites you have to seize,” says 28-year-old Paul Williams, who is one of three Liverpool playwrights to be featured.

“You can send your scripts off to TV or radio and be wating forever for a yes. Writers need a platform to try out their work and Write Now does exactly that.”

Williams’ play is Pippin Hal, the story of Benny Tyler who returns to the Liverpool estate where he was murdered in gang violence, to earn his wings as a guardian angel. His mission is to show his grieving brother, Pippin Hal, that even here, hope exists.

Williams, from Orrell Park, works as a writer full time but other participants are balancing a day job with producing scripts.

John Maguire, who uses the pen name James Stewart, works in graduate employment for Liverpool John Moores University.

His play is about a man, stuck in a monotonous job, who returns home to discover his partner in bed with his best friend.

He feels nauseous and literally “throws up his heart”. Back in Liverpool, he begins a quest to reveal if he is alive or dead.

“It’s an urban fairytale so there’s a character in it who’s like a mythical hag but is actually a Scouse eccentric,” explains the 32-year-old from Belle Vale.

“She’s based on my great-grandmother who was a real battleaxe. Once a smackhead broke into her house and she hit him with a poker despite having had a stroke.

“But if you were family, you could do no wrong.”