Morna workshop plus plays

Last month I got the chance to meet Morna Young via a Zoom meeting. This was my first experience meeting a playwright and I had no idea what to expect. I really enjoyed the experience - I learnt a lot, found Morna to be an incredibly lovely person and was left with a lot to think about that I have been ruminating over ever since. 

For me, the purpose of writing drama is to create authentic pieces that serve to resonate with people who feel unlistened too. Morna’s workshop taught me that an effective strategy in achieving this is to write in local dialect. This really isn't something I’d ever thought of. It seems obvious to me now.

Morna's workshop

In preparation for the meeting I read Morna’s “Lost at sea” which is written in Doric and I cannot imagine it being half as impactful if it was written in standard English.

As someone who’s spent a lot of time in Aberdeenshire I know that people just don’t talk “standard English” unless, as it happens, you are from England. I have a lot of cousins in Aberdeenshire and sometimes even I have to ask them to repeat themselves to understand what they’ve said. That’s one of the things I’ve always loved about that part of Scotland- its got a fierce Scottish identity but that’s secondary to an even stronger loyalty to Aberdeen. 

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is a unique place. Historically its always had a way of being able to offer its working-class opportunities to make tons of money, but its never seemed to educate these people in how to invest it wisely. Morna's play was full of accurate observations like this and its unlikely the play could have been written so well by someone from a different part of the world.

My time in the Bunbanter’s Young Playwrights Programme has led me down a lot of reflective paths about the importance of giving people platforms to tell their own stories. I’m enjoying this programme and all the things I learn from it each month, but I signed up for it thinking I had a social responsibility to tell other people stories on their behalf. I don't want to do that anymore. Even if I had the talent it wouldn't make sense to write something that other people with the lived experience could write themselves and enjoy the catharsis of it in the process. I wanted to be peoples pen- now I know my real social responsibility lies in handing over the pen to them.

I’m going to spend the remainder of this programme focussing on analysing the plays I read through the lens of how they stand up as pieces of entertainment, and with regards to my own playwrighting I’m going to reflect on what part of my own experience I think others would want to see.

Kate Barr

Kate is part of the Bunbury Banter Young Playwrights Programme 2019-2020