"I WANNA BE THE BLUE PETER OF CREATIVITY" -- INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT, DIRECTOR AND TEACHER POPPY CORBETT

Hello and welcome to the inaugural episode of the artist’s toolkit, the podcast for writers, actors and makers alike. Today we're talking with playwright, director and teacher Poppy Corbett. 

Poppy is a playwright, who is currently on the Old Vic 12 scheme, as well as a Teaching Fellow in Playwriting and Screenwriting at Royal Holloway University. In 2015 her play It’s my Party won the ‘First Draft’ Lambeth Playwriting competition and in 2013, her play Hatchling won Masterclass at the Theatre Royal Haymarket’s inaugural ‘Pitch Your Play’ competition. 

*IMPORTANT NOTE*
This interview took place on 26th March 2021. Some references - particularly covid-19 related - may only be specific to that particular point in time. 


RECOMMENDATIONS BY POPPY: 
Royal Court – Introduction to Playwriting course - https://royalcourttheatre.com/playwriting/writers-groups/introductory-groups/
London Writers’ Salon - https://londonwriterssalon.com/ 


MY FAVOURITE QUOTES 
“I want to be the Blue Peter presenter of creativity”. 
“Who are the people who need to populate this world?”
“Start from what you know. Start from that scene because you’re obviously excited by that scene.” 
“The only thing in writing is writing.” 
“You need to know how to swim the mini pool before you try and cross the channel.” 
“I’m very passionate about wanting access to theatre to be broadened and to be for everyone.” 
“I love directing because it’s when you’re at the centre of lots of different creative conversations.”
“Get some writer friends…it kind of doesn’t matter who they are; cause if they’re different to you and write different things to you, and if you don’t know them really well, that’s really exciting.” 
“There are actually lots of opportunities for young writers; loads of different theatres have programmes that you can apply for, and if you can get onto one of them, that’s a good place to find people, and then just cling on to them.”

Thank you Poppy for your insight and wisdom x