Home / Current and recent work
You can contact Sara on: inroadsproductions@mac.com
See also www.inroads.org.uk
Photo by Jim Holden
Welcome to Sara Clifford’s homepage, Summer 2023
I am a writer and theatre maker, based in East Sussex- this is the homepage for my writing commissions, teaching and evaluation work.
I am also Artistic Director of Inroads Productions – for info on Inroads work, please head to www.inroads.org.uk
SOME BACKGROUND
I originally studied English at Manchester University and have an MA in Screenwriting from the London College of Printing.
My first play, Some Sunny Day, was selected by both Paines Plough and the Soho theatre, as part of their Writers’ Development programmes, and I have gone on to write over 40 produced plays including commissions for the Soho Theatre, York Theatre Royal, and Nottingham Playhouse, and my work has been produced in France, Italy, Guadeloupe and Hong Kong.
I have been Writer in Residence for the South Downs Park/Applause Touring; the University of Brighton; and Chichester Festival Theatre; and my play A Thousand Days, was a Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn award
I am also an Associate Lecturer in Applied Theatre, Dramaturgy and Creative Writing at Central School of Speech and Drama and at Goldsmiths College
I am also a member of The Fence, an international network of working playwrights, leading to collaborations with writers from the Netherlands, Gaudeloupe, France and Italy. See the-fence.net for more information. In 2017 I travelled to New Zealand with a British Council Artists’ International Development Fund grant.
In 2023, I have been awarded a scholarship to study for the MA in Opera Making and Writing at the Guildhall, 2023/24.
AUTUMN 2023 – CURRENT PROJECTS
SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY FOR MA IN OPERA MAKING AND WRITING AT THE GUILDHALL, 2023/24
SUMMER 2023
SOUR CHERRY SOUP – a one woman show featuring Oliver nominated actor, Melody Brown ( Shakespeare’s Globe, RSC) and directed by Fi Ross ( Associate Artist, RSC)
Commissioned by The Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership, this is a new 45 minute one woman show which tells the story of the changing landscapes and populations of the Chilterns, as well as how the history of cherries is also the history of Southern England, reflecting the richness of the landscape, past, present and future.
Toured in local Chilterns venues June 2023 – audience feedback:
Brilliant!
Sensational -educational- emotional
Very moving
Beautiful
Wow! Just wow!
RECENT PROJECTS
1/ WRITING: 2022
DEVELOPING YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE – SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION
EXPLORING ECODRAMATURGY
With this grant, I researched the concept of ecodramaturgy, environmental themes and sustainable producing practices, integrating this with my existing placemaking/community focused work, asking:
How can theatre engage people to make choices around climate change?
I SEE THE HORIZON – available for touring
The untold story of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
Photo of Loren O’Dair by Ray Gibson
Sara received ACE England Research and Development funding to work on the script, using aerial work and non-theatre spaces.
2/ TEACHING AND TRAINING FOR WRITERS AND THEATRE MAKERS
2023 – A year long script writing course with co-tutor Lisa Fulthorpe
‘Scriptease is run by two highly experienced, knowledgeable and encouraging scriptwriters. . . Their online workshops are structured, dynamic, interactive, packed with professional information’
‘I would unreservedly recommend this course’.
Now into its third year, the 2023 course is now fully booked!
Contact Sara on inroadsproductions@mac.com if you wish to reserve a place for 2024.
www.arvon.org
Arvon Foundation: Residential – Writing for Performance with Communities, with co-tutor Francesca Beard, May 2023, Lumb Bank
https://www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/arvon-at-home-masterclass-writing-for-performance-with-communities/
Now into our fourth year, the next course will be Spring 2024
RECENT PROJECTS
SPRING 2021
WRITING: THE FULL HARVEST – 7 writers, 7 rivers, 10 stories
Lead Writer/ Dramaturg
Applause Rural Touring and South Downs National Park announce Full Harvest – a series of audio stories and poems inspired by the South Down landscape available as podcasts this summer.
Seven writers were commissioned to pen ten audio stories/poems, with Sara as Lead Writer.
The writers were an exciting mix of established writers and early career authors who each provided their unique perspective on the much-loved South Downs landscape. Each writer focused on one of the magical rivers that weave across the landscape.
Sara’s plays are Cement Bags, about the Adur River; and Celestial Navigation, about the Ouse.
https://applause.org.uk/about-us/projects/full-harvest/
Podlink to all listening platforms – Full Harvest (pod.link)
AUTUMN 2020 – BREAKING THE SILENCE – a monologue
Produced by Damn Cheek productions, featuring Karen Spicer
Film directed by Kirstie Davis
Audience feedback included:
- A beautiful fusion of words and acting where both are making the other even more powerful.
- Wonderful writing and wonderfully acted, just brilliant;
- Very poignant, linking past and present
- Fabulous writing and acting, made me cry!
SUMMER 2020 – BREAKING THE SILENCE
An Inroads project about the Spanish Flu Pandemic and Brighton in 1918/19 at the end of World War One, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
There was always a silence…
(quote from oral history interviewee, 2019)
An Inroads community arts project exploring the history of the Spanish Flu, in partnership with Brighton General Hospital and the University of Brighton, our performances and exhibition were suddenly interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
We have now reworked all the material we collected to a website and are currently working on a research project in partnership with the University, to include a future performance that will explore the theme of silence, then and now..
Go to: https://www.spanishfluinbrighton.co.uk
And you can read the published article with Brighton University here:
http://www.publicpedagogies.org/journal/
AUTUMN 2019- CHERRY SOUP
A one woman show, featuring actor and comedian Jo Neary (Suffragette; That Mitchell & Web Look; My Mad Fat Diary)
Tour across the South Downs National Park
Conceived, written and produced by Sara Clifford
A Hidden Gem, Fringe Review
- A beautifully realised piece, this performance at The Hope Inn was just one of a tour of pub performances across the South Downs National Park. By the end, hundreds of people will have watched a very engaging theatrical performance, but we will also have had our eyes opened a bit wider to the traditional life of the region, and how quickly it’s changing. Seeing the stars above is wonderful, but this production gives us a clearer perspective on our own community. These days, that’s incredibly important.
Some audience feedback:
- Incredibly well composed, fantastic characterisation, great songs, lovely singing and hilarious moments of storytelling sprinkled with urgency and loss
- Fantastic – incredibly well-written, superb performance. Absolutely loved it.
- Each small history was so beautifully crafted, so rich. Magic carpet stuff… what good writing does best, allow us to experience something without being instructed how to do it.
Commissioned by Inn Crowd and South Downs National Park Authority, with support from Applause Rural Touring
A Cherry-Seller sits by the side of the road. We’ve all seen them.
People stop, people buy cherries and people chat. They tell their stories: of ancient farms and modern fetes; of lost skills and identities; of overgrown orchards and the ghosts of the villages – and bring new stories, different ideas and different cultures.
This is not about nostalgia – this is a Cherry Soup of a show: sweet and sour and a little unexpected…