Theatre / new writing
Writers Lab presents: a showcase of new work at Tobacco Factory Theatres
Founded in 2023, Writers Lab is a group for adults based at Tobacco Factory Theatres that aims to develop writing for performance.
Through a weekly programme of sessions focused variously on elements such as voice, confidence and craft, the initiative has already enlisted over 100 emerging writers and theatremakers.
On June 6, a dedicated showcase will platform new work-in-progress shows by two recent participants; both pieces to be shown at this scale for the first time.
Writers Lab presents… will first introduce Charlotte Souter’s This Show is Not About Death in the afternoon, followed by Rhys Williamson’s A Very Difficult Person that evening.
“These are bold, distinct new pieces about grief and trust, told through dark comedy and inventive theatrical storytelling, proudly presented by TFT”, organisers say.
Writers Lab presents This Show is Not About Death – photo: Charlotte Souter
To date, Souter’s plays have been performed at the International Youth Arts Festival, Woking Drama Festival and The Egg at Theatre Royal Bath. She completed the Writers Lab programme in 2025.
Her show tells the story of Ella, who finds herself attempting to navigate “complicated grief”, with no real understanding of how to do so.
Ella is fine. This is a completely normal one-woman show. This is an office comedy, nothing else. This show isn’t about death. This show isn’t about rubbish dads. This show isn’t about what happens when a rubbish dad dies. This show isn’t about grieving, because why would you grieve something you never really had in your life?
Sharing Souter’s dark sensibility, Williamson’s piece explores “trust, bad judgement, and things going wrong”, told through the lens of a modern fairy tale.
Are you afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? You should be.
When the Big Bad Wolf knocks at his door, Rhys lets him in, sits him at the dining room table, and is shocked when the wolf tries to gobble him up.
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Writer’s Lab presents: This Show is Not About Death by Charlotte Souter on June 6 at 3pm; followed by A Very Difficult Person by Rhys Williamson at 7pm.
Main photo: Rhys Williamson
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