Bringing writers to audiences in contemporary theatre

The OU Contemporary Cultures of Writing research group is holding a series of seminars which looks at the ways in which the commissioner of drama for screen, radio, and theatre occupies the role of co-creator in the development process.

The seminar series features leading commissioners and producers in the fields of British screen drama, broadcast drama, and theatre, in conversation with writer-academics. It will explore the role of the commissioner and producer in terms of relationships with audiences, and investigate the extent to which they can be regarded as co-creators.

Register your interest via Eventbrite.

About the speakers

Lisa Goldman (theatre director and writer

Lisa Goldman is a freelance writer, script consultant and one of Britain's most lauded theatre directors. She was Artistic Director of two of the most influential new writing theatre companies in Britain, first as founder and artistic director of The Red Room from 1995 until 2006 and then at the Soho Theatre which she ran until 2010. During this period she commissioned and directed plays from some of the most significant contemporary writers for theatre, among them Kay Adshed, Anthony Neilson, Dorota Maslowska, Hassan Abdulrazzak, Natasha Langridge and Philip Ridley. She has been primary dramaturg on every new play she directed and hundreds of other plays, many winning major awards. Lisa’s book The No Rules Handbook for Writers was cited by The Stage as one of their top 10 training books of 2012 and was an Amazon UK digital bestseller. She has an MA from Goldsmiths in Creative and Life Writing..

Dr Oladipo Agboluaje (playwright and academic)

Oladipo ‘Dipo’ Agboluaje is an award-winning playwright, with numerous critically-acclaimed plays, adaptations and radio plays to his credit. His first play Early Morning was produced in 2003 at Oval House Theatre in South London, and he has gone on to write plays for the Soho Theatre, the Arcola, the Unicorn, West Yorkshire Playhouse and others. He is the 2009 winner of the Alfred Fagon prize for playwriting for his play Iya-Ile (The First Wife). Iya-Ile was nominated for an Olivier Award that same year. He was also the recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Award. Oladipo has also published a number of poems and short stories. He reviews essay submissions for the African Performance Review journal and has taught creative writing and post-colonial theatre at several universities, most recently at the University of Greenwich and the University of East London. Published plays include Early Morning, The Christ of Coldharbour Lane, The Estate and New Nigerians, and his first collection of plays, Plays One, was published by Oberon in 2014.