Can't Write, Can Write
We had ten fantastic weeks at Malvern Theatres over the summer of 2025
Unlike previous projects at Malvern, this time, we looked at a whole raft of writing genres. These included poetry, first person storytelling, third person storytelling, script writing and biography.
Each week followed a similar format. We would begin with looking at examples of work from different writers. Thus we looked at writers such as Sally Rooney, Seamus Heaney and examined their writing styles and their methods.
From here writers were given an exercise to write in the style or genre of the writer.
The attendees produced some superb which accumulated in a very informal showcase of work in the final week.
'I liked the workshops a lot. The leaders were engaging and encouraging'.
Debut 2025 at Worcester Theatres
We had an excellent workshop at Worcester Theatres on Tuesday 22nd July 2025. Led by Steve, the nine attendees looked at two areas of writing for the stage. These being writing great characters and then how you get those characters to write dialogue.
Steve examined characters from true life and also from plays. We looked at the positive sides of characters but also looked at what their negative traits could be. For example, John Proctor in the Crucible was a man of principle but also someone who was a man of passion and in effect living in the wrong time and place. We looked at characterization; examining social class, the ways characters may move and behave.
To help us we read scripts from Blackadder and the Film Screenplay ‘the Wife’. Again, we examined characters from the scripts. What motivates these people, why do they behave in that manner.
We looked at types of speech and what characters say.
Connected: The speech is directly connected to the character’s emotional and/or their intellect.
Disconnected: There’s a gap between what the people in your play say and their emotions and intellect. Focussed: Short sentences of six to eight words. Expansive – Longer sentences of over eight words.
All writers then created some excellent work
Aaron from Worcester Theatres gave us some great feedback.
"Crave arts came and provided us with an insightful perspective on how to write and develop interesting dialogue. The participants left feeling inspired and confident that they could get the ideas lingering in their minds onto a piece of paper. Steve was very engaging and receptive to all of the participants and we hope to see him back with us soon."
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Malvern Theatres
From Page to Stage
Read about our fabulous playwriting workshops at Malvern Theatres that took place from January 2025.
From Page To Stage!
Debut 2024
We were delighted to have completed our latest project at Worcester Theatres. Read more here Debut 2024 Evaluation
Truth and Lies
We were delighted to run our latest Creative Writing project, this time at Number 8 in Pershore in the Spring of 2024.
The project involved 2 workshops led by our own Steve Wilson and the poet Sarah Leavesley. Steve’s workshop concerned playwriting, based on the theme of Lies whilst Sarah’s poetry workshop was based on Truth.
The overall themes worked really well and we were thrilled with take up from local writers and the support from Number 8.
Workshops
The workshops took place on Saturday 16th March and were exceptionally well attended with a good range of ages and demographics.
In our playwriting workshop based on Lies we had some great discussions about why people lie and how we can get characters to lie in plays in the most effective way. There was a lot of laughter, and some great ideas began to emerge.
The workshop attendees told us:
“Thank you! Great to spend time in this way being guided to try some new and different writing. Much appreciated!”
“Steve was fantastic – lots of great ideas and time to share ideas as well as get writing. It was great and really inspiring and motivating. Loved it!”
‘A very appropriate workshop for me as a wannabe scriptwriter. It was highly relevant to something I’m writing with a group of creative writers.”
We asked Sarah: ‘How was the poetry workshop?'
“It felt friendly, cooperative and productive, with lots of work started in the workshop being shared during the workshop sharing sections. It was quite intense – lots of different writing prompts and exercises, which seemed to be (mostly) appreciated and necessary in order to have enough pieces inspired and started to produce a showcase worth’s of work"
Post Workshop
After the workshop our writers went off and wrote some excellent work to which both Sarah and Steve responded. Writers sent in work that was given constructive feedback. Work was commented on, improved and from there, selected for the showcase.
Showcase and the feedback
The showcase event took place on Saturday 27th April. It was a show of two halves! The first half was the Truth part which saw 8 poets perform work, most poets read at least two poems. The second half saw 5 plays based on the theme of Lies which were kindly performed by members of the Pershore Operatic Drama Group. Again, feedback was excellent.
“It was a wonderful event to be part of. I very much enjoyed the workshops and the feedback received about the work I’d created was very helpful. I had great fun at all stages of the process and very much hope there will be more opportunities like this in the future. I found the experience of preparing a script for the stage and working with the actors extremely valuable. Many thanks to Sarah and to Steve for putting the event on. Thanks also to the PODS actors and the Number 8 staff who also contributed a huge amount.”
Number 8 viewpoint.
"We think the theme worked really well. For the workshops it was interesting and inspiring for participants. It gave the workshops a distinct angle and provided a starting point for the writers that they could immediately relate to that had a lot of scope/ wasn’t too limiting or prescriptive. It also worked well as a promotional hook for the Showcase. ‘The feedback from the workshops was excellent. I’m in the process of compiling the responses and will send details through when it’s finished."
What were your thoughts about the final performance?
"The final performance worked really well, we got very good feedback from those that attended and from those who participated. The only thing that might have worked better for the performance is if the poetry and drama were interspersed rather than having separate sections for each. It was a shame we didn’t get a larger audience for the final performance but considering it was the first time we’ve done an event of this type it was a good start to build from".
Our conclusion
A great project to work on and lovely to be at Number 8 in Pershore. We hope to do more! Big thanks to all who took part and contributed.
Creative Writing Workshops
We have been really busy over the Autumn 24 period running creative writing workshops at both Malvern Theatres and Number 8, Pershore.
Malvern Theatres
It was lovely to be part of Malvern Theatre’s Take Part programme and to be asked to run An Introduction to Scriptwriting series of workshops. Over ten weeks we worked with some really friendly and talented writers and covered a whole series of different areas including structure, place, dialogue and character development. Having the ten weeks meant that we could go into a lot of detail and to also delve into film and Tv scripts as a group. Over the 10 weeks we worked with 15 participants.
Attendees were incredibly supportive of each other and at the end of the 10 weeks several class members had their work read out.
Steve said ‘The work from the Group was of a consistent high standard and level. Considering that only a couple had written scripts before the final results were hugely impressive.’
‘A wealth of knowledge and expertise shared by Steve Wilson. Lovely laid-back style but deceptively rigorous. Will definitely be back in the new year!’ Workshop attendee
Number 8, Pershore
We ran four workshops plus a final showcase at Number 8. These workshops were more focussed on writing for the stage. It was nice to see some familiar faces from a previous project at Number 8 and the Group of ten participants worked on a number of different subject areas each week.
We brought in some established plays and considered how writers set about creating character, place and dialogue. Unlike at Malvern there was more of a focus of creating a finished piece and for the final showcase we read 6 plays in total in an informal reading in the venues bar.
We had a lovely evening which was embellished by us bringing in a couple of actors to assist with the plays.
Steve said ‘The Number 8 Group were from day one really focussed on the final showcase. It was great to see their hard work come to fruition with a really nice evening of plays.’
‘I value Steve’s insights into plays and script-writing: he offers angles and approaches that I have not considered before.’ Workshop attendee.
Job alert: Evaluator! 📢
Crave Arts is looking for an experienced Evaluator to join us on the Power of Worcester project⚡️
The Evaluator will review the evaluation data we’ve already collected during the first stages of the project, evaluate the final stage of the project and carry out an end of project independent assessment suitable to submit to our funders, National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Power of Worcester aims to breathe life into Worcester’s Power heritage, bringing to life the history of electricity in Worcester, unearthing hidden tales, inspiring communities, and making creative work with communities and partners 🤩
Have you got the relevant experience and passion?
Download the full brief here.
The application deadline is 5pm on 31st May.
Please email your application to craveartsbusiness@gmail.com
We were delighted to be back in Malvern as part of the 2023 Feast Festival. To find out more about the workshop we delivered at The Malvern Priory, click here:
FEAST 2023
Creative Space
We are delighted that HM Prison and Probation Service have funded us to deliver an arts programme in the Probation Service in Worcester and Redditch.
Our programme, ‘Creative Space’, will bring creative writing, visual arts and film-making to women on Probation, with the aim of developing confidence, motivation, artistic and transferable skills for employment.
With our artists lined up, we start sessions in October 2023 and will continue into 2024.
Debut
'Debut' was our latest writing-for-the-stage project involving participants creating new work under our mentorship.
Taking place in the summer of 2023 at Worcester Theatres, it culminated in a performance evening of five new plays on Thursday 27th July 2023 at The Studio Theatre, as part of Worcester Fringe.
To find out more about the project please see our report: Evaluation of Debut
NT Connections
We had a really lovely three days at the beginning of April as part of the NT Connections Theatre Project for young people. Held at Worcester Theatres for the first time, we ran a 90 minute workshop which we repeated to the nine participating theatre companies. The workshop was based on how you create great characters and how you then provide conflict for them. The workshop was very well received. Beth Walsh and Bev Bevan from Worcester Theatre Makers loved their workshop as you can see in this image.
Behind the scenes
Not all of our work is about us delivering public-facing projects. We often support others to deliver their work using arts and heritage.
We're currently providing consultancy to Worcester Theatres and Ledbury Poetry Festival, we're mentoring creative freelancers on the Connect Freelancer Development programme through Culture Central, and we're evaluating The Severn Rising 2222, an environmental game about climate change by Sarah Millin and Andrew Round of Paradise Multimedia, funded by Arts Council England. You can find out more about this exciting initiative using illustration and digital media here
Fantastical wildlife - The Severn Rising 2222 - by Sarah Millin
Writing the Wrongs
In October 2022, Crave Arts and The Everyman Theatre Cheltenham joined forces to run a creative writing day in Worcester Cathedral. The aim was to create an opportunity for people to reflect on our turbulent times and to find hope and reconciliation through writing.
10 people attended the day, which included a tour of the Cathedral to inspire and guide their thinking and approach.
'This has been fantastic - inspiring and motivating - thank you!'
'The tour was great for inspiration. Really enjoyed writing to a theme'
'Such a great opportunity - hope there are more courses like this'
Thanks to Worcestershire County Councillors Matthew Jenkins and Lynn Denham for supporting the day with their divisional funds.
Download our Evaluation Report.
KGV Living Room
Crave Arts and Mark Riley Creative-States
had a great morning at Worcester Community Trust's KGV Community Hub in Brickfields in February 2023. Local people enjoyed making artwork with clay, craft, paint and creative writing exercises, all on the theme of what makes a warm and inviting place
On the Verge
Crave Arts worked with Worcester Theatres to deliver a theatre making course over ten weeks. Each week, 10 participants learned about writing for the theatre as well as directing, designing and producing. All of them developed ten-minute performance pieces which were performed as part of the Worcester Fringe Festival on Thursday 28th July 2022
Community Living Room
Between January and June 2022, Crave Arts delivered 'Community Living Room' as part of The National Lottery Community Fund's Places Called Home initiative, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and IKEA.
We delivered workshops to women at Worcester Community Trust and Eastern Europeans at LikeU and converted an empty shop in the Crowngate Centre for our Living Room exhibition.
'I enjoyed writing about home, it made me realise how far I have come'
'I learned that others have been through similar things as me. It felt very powerful talking about our experiences' '
'If you have chance to participate in similar project - just do it!'
Download our Evaluation Report.
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Loan Sharks
In 2021/22, Crave Arts were funded by Stop Loan Sharks and the South Worcestershire Community Safety Partnership to deliver a project to raise awareness of the dangers of loan sharks with vulnerable people.
Did you know?
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Loan sharks can be anyone, even people you know.
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They may offer no paperwork, intimidate you and threaten family members.
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Help is available through Stop Loan Sharks
We delivered drama and visual arts workshops to Worcester Community Trust, Regency High School, Ourside Youth Centre and Malvern Cube, and performed 'The Cash Back Show' at Crowngate Shopping Centre.
Download our Evaluation Report.
If you wish to bring a Loan Sharks workshop to your clients, pupils or team, please contact us for prices.
From Whisper To Voice
Between June 2021 and January 2022, Crave Arts delivered 'From Whisper to Voice', a project which aimed to:
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Seek out unheard stories and talent from diverse voices
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Provide support and showcasing opportunities for emerging writers/performers
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Build new audiences who engage and return
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Use artistic means to create new narratives of Worcester.
Funded by The Elmley Foundation, Worcester City Council and Worcester Theatres, we held 17 workshops with 39 participants and delivered live performance to 90 attendees.
'I was very surprised with my abilities to write and express my thoughts, feelings, emotions through poetry’
‘My knowledge of directing and how to work with actors has been improved through this process. Really great opportunity and really enjoyed it. Would love to work as a director for Crave Arts again in the future’.
Download our Evaluation Report.
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Is This Love?
In 2020, Crave Arts were funded by Worcester Theatres as part of their Cultural Recovery programme to provide online workshops and performance on the theme of Love for Valentines Day, 2021.
We ran an online workshop about how to structure plays. Participants each developed a ten minute play with our support. These were then performed online by actors.
Following this, four of the plays were further developed as part of our Whisper to Voice programme.
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