This is a six day programme for emerging and mid career writers in which five different acclaimed writers will illuminate the skills and processes involved in adapting and translating for the stage.

The workshop will be framed by Conor Mc Pherson and will also feature Nick Dear, Alan Stanford, Tanya Ronder and Thomas Kilroy.

Venue: Gate Theatre Lab

Date: February 13th-18th, 10am-5pm (Saturday 18th 10am-2pm)

Cost: €250

Application: please send a C.V. and expression of interest to louisa.carroll@gate-theatre.ie

Deadline for application: Friday, February 3rd 2012.

*Please note places are extremely limited.

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Conor McPherson

Conor McPherson is a playwright and screenwriter who was named by The New York Times as ‘the finest playwright of his generation'.

Conor won the George Devine Award in 1997 with his play St Nicholas, and went on to win an Olivier Award for Best New Play in 1999 with his follow-up, The Weir. In 2006 he received a Tony Award nomination for Shining City and an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play for The Seafarer.

Conor also writes for film and in 2008 he began production on The Eclipse, which marked his debut as a screen director. The Eclipse was adapted by Conor from a ghost story by Billy Roche and stars Aidan Quinn and Ciaran Hinds. Conor is currently developing Strangers for Number 9 Films based on the novel by Taichi Yamada, and in 2011 he wrote The Veil for the National Theatre.

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Nick Dear

Nick Dear is a BAFTA award winning writer. Nick was Playwright in Residence at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 1987, and at the University of Essex in 1985. He collaborated with Peter Brook on the development of Qui est là? (Bouffes du Nord, Paris 1996). He now lives with his family in London.

His work for stage and screen includes:

Plays:
Frankenstein (Shelley) (2011) National Theatre, Olivier, Lunch in Venice (2005) National Theatre ‘Connections’ Season, The Turn of the Screw (James) (2005) Bristol Old Vic Power (2003) National Theatre, Cottesloe, The Promise (Arbuzov) (2002) Tricycle Theatre, The Villains’ Opera (2000) National Theatre, Olivier, Summerfolk (Gorky) (1999) National Theatre, Olivier South Bank Show Theatre Award, Zenobia (1995) RSC, Young Vic, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Molière) (1992) National Theatre, Lyttleton, The Last Days of Don Juan (Molina) (1990) RSC, Swan, In the Ruins (1989) Bristol Old Vic, Food of Love (1988) Theâtre de Complicité, Almeida, A Family Affair (Ostrovsky) (1988) Cheek by Jowl, Donmar Theatre, Pure Science (1986) RSC, The Other Place, The Art of Success (1986) RSC, The Other Place John Whiting Award, Temptation (1984) RSC, Barbican Pit

Screenplays:
Poirot: Three Act Tragedy (2009) ITV, Poirot: Mrs McGinty’s Dead (2008) ITV, Poirot: Cards on the Table (2006) ITV, Poirot: The Hollow (2004) ITV, Eroica (2003) BBC Prix Italia, Byron (2003) BBC, Cinderella (2000) Channel 4, The Turn of the Screw (1999) ITV, The Gambler (1997) Film Four Best European Film, Brussels, Persuasion (1995) BBC BAFTA Award, Broadcasting Press Guild Award

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Alan Stanford

Director

Gate Theatre: Directing credits include own adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, The Old Curiosity Shop, Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, which he co-adapted.

Also Present Laughter (transfer to Spoleto Festival 2010) A Christmas Carol, The Real Thing, The Deep Blue Sea, Great Expectations, Private Lives , The Constant Wife, Romeo and Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities, Lady Windermere's Fan (1997 and 2005), Cyrano de Bergerac, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest and Endgame.

Other Theatre: He is Artistic Director of Second Age Theatre Company for whom he has most recently directed Hamlet and Philadelphia, Here I Come. He has just returned from directing Pinter’s Betrayal and Celebration in the USA

Film: Educating Rita; The Irish R.M.; The Treaty; The Hanging Gale; Moll Flanders; Kidnapped; The American; Animal Farm; Waiting for Godot. He has written a screenplay of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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Tanya Ronder

Tanya is a celebrated playwright who trained at RADA and spent fourteen years working as an actress before turning to writing in 2006.

Her 2007 adaptation of DBC Pierre's Booker-prize winning novel, Vernon God Little, was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play as well as a What's On Stage Award for Best New Comedy and was revived by the Young Vic in 2011 as part of their anniversary season.

In 2009, she adapted JM Barrie's much-loved children's book, Peter Pan, which played to critical acclaim at Kensington Gardens' twelve hundred seat tent and then moved to the O2 for Christmas before touring America in 2010.

Tanya also writes for screen. In 2008 she wrote the short film King Bastard and completed her first feature, Random, in 2010.

Tanya's plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

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Thomas Kilroy

Thomas Kilroy was born in Ireland in 1934 at Callan, County Kilkenny. He was educated by the Christian Brothers, St Kieran's College and University College Dublin where he gained an education degree and went on to became a teacher and a headmaster. In 1965 he was appointed senior lecturer at UCD, lecturing on English, Anglo-Irish and 18th century drama. He was also a visiting professor in various American universities. Between 1973 and 1979 he took a break from his university career after the success of his novel, THE BIG CHAPEL (1971, shortlisted for the Booker Prize). He was then appointed professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is a member of the Royal Society for Literature and of the Irish Academy of Letters. In March 2004 he received a lifetime achievement award at the Irish Times/ESB Irish Theatre Awards. He was recently made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. His other awards are: Heinneman Award for Literature, AIB Literary Prize, BBC Drama Prize, American-Irish Foundation Prize for Literature, Rockefeller Foundation Residency, Kyoto University Foundation Award, Prix Nikki Commendation (TV).

His plays include: THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF MR. ROCHE (Dublin Theatre Festival, 1968 and Hampstead Theatre, London); THE O’NEILL (Peacock Theatre, 1969); TEA AND SEX AND SHAKESPEARE (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, 1976); TALBOT’S BOX (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival, 1977 and Royal Court Theatre, London); DOUBLE CROSS (Field Day Theatre, 1986 and Royal Court Theatre); THE MADAME MacADAM TRAVELLING THEATRE (Field Day Theatre, 1991 and Irish Repertory Theatre, New York); THE SECRET FALL OF CONSTANCE WILDE (Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis 2008/Bite 2000 International Festival, Barbican Theatre, London/Melbourne International Festival, 1998 and Abbey Theatre, 1997); THE SHAPE OF METAL (Abbey Theatre, Dublin 2003 and Origin Theatre Co, New York 2007). He has also done versions of Chekhov's SEAGULL (Royal Court Theatre 1981) Ibsen's GHOSTS (Peacock Theatre, Dublin Theatre Festival 1989) and Pirandello's SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR (Abbey Theatre 1996) and HENRY IV (Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre 2005).

His new play CHRIST DELIVER US! premièred at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin in 2010. In April 2011 a public reading of his play BLAKE was given by the Abbey Theatre Company at the Samuel Becket Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin.