All of the greatest playwrights had to start somewhere, and now one student at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is preparing for the opening of her first self-written and directed play at her local fringe festival.
Launching at Theatrefest as part of the Barnstaple Fringe Theatre Festival, Creative Writing and Film Studies student Abi Barter is eagerly anticipating the curtain being raised on her first play, ‘The Elephant Dress’.
Abi’s debut production has been done through her own amateur theatre company, ‘Antler & Feather’, and follows the story of a young girl’s difficulties and attachments to her eating disorder which Abi has based on experiences of people suffering from anorexia nervosa, as well as her own experiences.
Abi said: “It’s about a young girl who develops a friendship with her eating disorder, and how getting rid of it might be harder than just therapy.
“It was based on a lot of personal experiences and the experiences of others. There is such a stigma attached to mental health issues and eating disorders, I just want my play to open them up as a talking point to help those suffering feel less alone and a bit more confident about themselves.”
Abi’s interest in becoming a playwright developed when studying GCSE Drama, despite the fact she hated acting herself, she found she was able to be much more creative without the spotlights being on her.
She added: “I always loved creating drama at school, I could just never find the same passion for performing it myself. It made more sense for me to continue my interest in drama behind the scenes.”
Launching at Barnstaple’s Theatrefest makes perfect sense for Devonshire-born Abi, who is genuinely excited for her future in play production and thanks DMU for helping to give her a push in the right direction.
Abi said: “Having my name out there as a playwright and making connections in the theatre business will help me to further my career.
“I want to continue with Antler & Feather and hopefully move on to make it a professional company where I can finally write all the plays that I have been meaning to!
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“My lecturers at DMU have been so helpful and supportive of the play. My dissertation supervisor, Kathleen Bell, really encouraged me to enter the play into the fringe festival and I’m really grateful for that.
“DMU has also helped to really improve my confidence, without that improving I don’t think I’d have been able to network within the theatre industry.”
Kathleen Bell, principal lecturer at DMU, added: “The reason I’ve pushed Abi is because simply she’s written a good play. She’s got a sense of staging, she knows how theatre works and that’s when I realised she’d be eligible for the theatre festival.
“It’s great for her CV, she gets to talk to other directors and organisers and she’ll get some really good contacts.
“It’ll give her a sense of all aspects of the industry from ticketing to marketing and pricing and all the rest of it; she’s going to learn so much from it.”
Posted on Thursday 25 June 2015