blank Pages is a London based theatre company, specialising in new writing.

Concept

Every three months, two new plays are written by specially commissioned playwrights, giving their take on a topic inspired by recent news events. These plays are then staged, using directors and actors who had not met before, even at audition.

History

First Draft Theatre Company (usually abbreviated to First Draft) was set up by Suzanne Enoch

Suzanne Enoch (actress)

Suzy Enoch is a Scottish writer, director and actress based in Edinburgh. Enoch was born in Aberdeen and trained as an actress in London at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts....

 in February 2006. The first selection of plays were Operation New Life by Katy Darby and Underground Resistance by Michael Ayres. The company was renamed as blank Pages in 2010.

Creatives

Directors who have worked for the company include Alison King

Alison King

Alison King is an English actress. She has had major television roles as Lynda Block in the Sky One television series Dream Team, and as Carla Connor in Coronation Street since 2006.- Early life and education :...

 and Sian Thomas

Sian Thomas

Siân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series...

. Actors include Chandrika Chevli

Chandrika Chevli

Chandrika Chevli is an actress and broadcaster. She is a regular newsreader for BBC Radio 2.-External links:...

.

Venues

Venues used by the company include Barons Court Theatre, The Bedford, The Dogstar, Hen and Chickens Theatre

Hen and Chickens Theatre

The Hen and Chickens Theatre is a fringe venue for theatre and comedy situated above a pub at Highbury in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre management was awarded to actress Felicity Wren in 1999.-External links:*...

, Inn on The Green and King's Head Theatre.

Performances

Since changing its name to blank pages, the company has put on the following productions:

• Ferry Lights by Claudia Ward, directed by Claire Robbin, in August 2010.
• Tomorrow We Build Our Jerusalem by Michael Ross, directed by Hugh Allison, in August 2010.
• Light Fittings by Alice Birch, directed by Claire Robbin, in November 2010.
• The Woman Who by Maev Mac Coille, directed by Hugh Allison, in November 2010.
• To have or not To have by CS Flint, directed by Perdie Hatton-Brown, in February 2011.
• seems like I've got too much of it since by Chris Bennion, directed by Kimberley Sykes, in February 2011.
• Transactions by Peter Norgate, directed by Dan Skili, in May 2011.
• Common Ground by Katy Darby, directed by Bethany Pitts, in May 2011.
• No Signal by Antony Dunford, directed by Daryl Wild, in November 2011.

These have all been performed at the Dogstar in Brixton.

Company successes

The following plays were first written for the company:

• The Better Deal, written for First Draft in 2007, was performed at The Rosemary Branch Theatre
  Rosemary Branch Theatre
  Rosemary Branch Theatre is a theatre above a public house, in Islington on the borders of Hackney and Shoreditch. It has a capacity of 57 seats, expandable to 65. The pub is a freehouse and the venue is independent and privately-owned.- Stage :...
  
   later that year.
• Colin's Fish written for First Draft in 2009, was performed at Lost Theatre Festival the same year, where it was described as having "Beckett like banter" by Jeremy Kingston.
• Ferry Lights, written for blank Pages in 2010, was adapted for radio and aired later that year.
• A Public Kind of Privacy, written for First Draft in 2006, was performed at The White Bear Theatre
  The White Bear Theatre
  The White Bear Theatre Club is a fringe theatre venue, established in 1988 in the White Bear pub in Kennington, London Borough of Lambeth. It is run by Artistic Director Michael Kingsbury...
  
   in 2007. It was nominated for Best Play at the Brighton Festival in 2007.
• The State We're In, about protestor Brian Haw
  Brian Haw
  Brian William Haw was an English protester and peace campaigner who lived for almost ten years in a camp in London's Parliament Square from 2001, in a protest against UK and US foreign policy...
  
  , played at The Edinburgh Festival
  Edinburgh Festival
  The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
  
   in 2009, starring Michael Byrne
  Michael Byrne (actor)
  Michael Byrne is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television. He has often been cast in Nazi military roles such as Colonel Vogel in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Obergruppenführer Odilo Globocnik in the BBC radio dramatisation of the novel Fatherland by Robert Harris...
  
  , was written and performed for First Draft in July 2007.