Hedge School Scriptwriting Workshop facilitated by James Moran, Professor of Modern English Literature and Drama, Faculty of Arts at Nottingham University.

Thursday 18 September & Friday 19 September 2025, 11am – 1pm

A free Scriptwriting Workshop held over two mornings in Thomas MacDonagh Museum for participants to create a short dramatic scene drawing inspiration from this year’s theme – ‘Political Theatre – Learning from the Past’

Advance booking: http://bit.ly/4nHsUnw 

Workshop Schedule – Day 1

Thurs 18/9

10.30am, Registration, coffee/tea, visit Museum

11am, Introductions

11.10am, Examine Patrick Pearse’s speech at the grave of O’Donovan Rossa, explore the techniques Pearse uses to make his oratory effective.

11.30am, Group to begin a writing task based on part of Pearse’s speech.

12noon, Introduction of Sean O’Casey’s parodic reuse of Pearse’s speech in The Plough and Stars.  What is O’Casey doing?

12.15pm, Using O’Casey’s ideas, group to create contextual dialogue for their earlier speech that either endorses, extends, or parodies the sentiments.

12.40-1pm, Group sharing and feedback.

1pm, Lunch coffee/tea and sandwiches

Workshop Schedule – Day 2

Fri 19/9

10.30am, coffee/tea, Museum open

11am, Warm-up task

11.10am, Group examine short extracts from Thomas MacDonagh’s play When the Dawn is Come.

11.30am, Group to begin writing task, extending the work from yesterday by drawing on narrative structure used by MacDonagh.

12noon, Pause to introduce some more ideas about performance.

12.10pm, Complete writing task.

12.40-1pm, Group sharing and feedback.

1pm, Lunch coffee/tea and sandwiches

Culture Night – Day 2

Fri 19/9, 7-8pm,

Culture Night will include informal readings from the work developed in the script writing workshop

The ThomasMacDonagh Hedge School 2025 acknowledges funding from the Creative Ireland Programme with support from Tipperary CountyCouncil. We also acknowledge funding from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, The Arts Council and Culture Night 2025.