This anthology features the brave new worlds and wonders woven from the words of the writers of UEA’s 2026 MA Scriptwriting cohort. Through the dreamscape of Antarctica and a liminal laundrette, a hospital ward and the world through a cat’s eyes, you will find reflections on what it means to love, to fear, to laugh, to grieve, to dream, to be human in all it’s radiant chaos. Come with us through these pages to watch the sheep halfway up a mountain, to peel back the layers of a satirical advertisement, time-travel to Texas, feel the paranoia of an exam hall, experience the ambivalence of murder, and uncover sibling rivalry at a house party gone wrong. From body horror with a heart to the conflicting relief of death, these tales span the darkly comic to the genuine and heartfelt as they play with the strange, the real, and the intimate through twisted expectations and sincere sentimentality.
With an introduction from writer and course director Steve Waters, and a foreword from the BAFTA winning writer Janice Okoh, this anthology ties together twenty-five unique voices as they boldly find their place in this world of words and write so that you might hear them.
Foreword by Janice Okoh: Janice Okoh is an award winning playwright. Her first play ‘Egusi Soup’ was produced in 2012 by Menagerie Theatre/Soho Theatre and went on a national tour in 2014 with Menagerie/ Theatre Royal Bury St Edmonds as producers. It won a Channel 4 Playwriting Award in 2017. Her second play “Three Birds” won the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize in 2011 and was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate and Alfred Fagon awards in that same year. It was produced in 2013. This has now been developed for television, titled JUST ACT NORMAL. For television, Janice has most recently written on Sanditon for ITV / PBS and her single film A MOTHER’S LOVE for C4. She also writes extensively for radio.
Introduction by Steve Waters: Steve Waters is a Professor of Scriptwriting at UEA. His many plays include Limehouse, Temple, Little Platoons, The Contingency Plan, Fast Labour, and World Music, all of which are published by NickHern Books. His adaptation of the novel The Last King of Scotland by fellow UEA Professor Giles Foden premiered at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre in 2019. His most recent work for radio, Song of the Reed, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2021. Before joining UEA he ran the MPhil(B) in Playwriting Studies at the University of Birmingham. He has written about playwriting in The Secret Life of Plays (2010) and A Life in 16 Films: How Cinema Made a Playwright (2021), as well as writing for radio and television, and has adapted The Contingency Plan for the screen for Film4 and Cowboy Pictures.
