Enter.Stage.Write and Amplified

I recently had the great privilege of collaborating with Birmingham-based Transition Stage Company, which specialises in film production and events as well as being a digital platform for writers. It was founded by Natalie Edwards-Yesufu, the very talented driving force of the company.

Last year they held two screenwriting competitions, Enter.Stage.Write and Amplified. Enter.Stage.Write is open to a general audience while Amplified focuses more on black, Asian and minority ethic writers in the UK. In both competitions, hundreds of scripts were whittled down to a final five. Due to the ongoing pandemic, instead of performing the plays live the decision was made to film and screen them at a gala event at Birmingham’s Millennium Point in January 2022.

The plays were filmed by Dan Hunt, a fantastic cameraman who I had previously worked with on the feature film One day at a Time. My role was to sound design and mix the filmed plays. It was a highly collaborative process and I really enjoyed working with Natalie, along with director Tonia Daley-Campbell and editor Molly Bruton.

Both ESW and Amplified featured stories which tackled complex issues of race, relationships, and social justice while others were more light hearted in nature. Both shows were put together in a format similar to a reality TV show, making them quite a unique hybrid.

Due to restrictions remaining eased the event was able to take place in Birmingham on January 20th. While I was unable to be there in person, I attended online. Victoria Buse won the Enter.Stage.Write audience award for her play None of the Above and Sara Amanda won the Amplified award for Hell is a Place Called Home.

It was a joy helping to enhance these diverse stories through sound and enabling them to be presented a wider audience.

Enter.Stage.Write is available to view here.

Amplifed here.

To find out more about the work of Transition Stage Company, please visit their website.