PARTING WORDS: announcing our writers

Grief, endings, loss and hope on the page, 28th January at The Glitch

We are thrilled to start the new year right by programming some new writing, the next in a series of live reading events in the intimate, womb-like basement at The Glitch. After sifting through the most submissions we’ve ever had for one of these, we are delighted to announce the writers for our next live read PARTING WORDS.

The event takes place Sunday, 28th January at 7pm at The Glitch (134 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7AE).- get your ticket FAST as we always sell out so quickly due to the limited space. We can’t wait to see you there:

The writers and work we will be reading this time are:

Charlotte East | Bends

Amy Hughes | Museum of Photographic Hoaxes

Jessica Riches | Planet Beta

Jiaxi Wang | Onlooker at the Funfair

Clair Whitefield | Ossuary

Amy Yeates | Little Deaths

Grief, or other kinds of endings and loss, are difficult topics to write about. How do you describe or evoke an absence? But our writers have more than risen to the challenge, and we’re thrilled to be able to program work that is so rich, exciting and formally inventive.

Messy Collective Live Reads are for unpolished, unfinished work. It's raw and it's messy and that’s the whole point. After the performances, there will be a reverse Q&A ~ a chance for the writers to ask the audience questions. This evening is a chance for writers to hear their words read aloud and get real-time responses so they can evolve and edit. We’d love to see you there.

We also have an INCREDIBLE cast of actors lined up, which we can’t wait to announce SOON.

Meet our writers below:

Writers

Charlotte East

Charlotte graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2020 as an actor and BBC radio drama Carleton Hobbs Winner. She worked for the BBC Radio Drama Company for 5 months upon graduating and has since worked with Nottingham Playhouse, BBC Arts and is currently the voice of Airwick! Her debut play, The King Stone, focusing on male mental health and toxic masculinity within the East Midlands, was selected and supported by Nottingham Playhouse for their Amplify Festival in Oct 2023; It then went on to receive further support from Mansfield Palace and ACE for a 3 week R&D. As a new writer Charlotte appreciates all the feedback she can get so please, don’t hold back! She’s a brash lass from Derbyshire, she can take it. She has an interest in creating work that celebrates the beauty of being human.

Amy Hughes

Amy Hughes is a writer who was raised in the West Midlands and is currently based in East London. Her narrative non-fiction writing – for example telling the story of a mother-daughter duo who took up lion-taming to save their family’s circus – has been published by Narratively and she has written film criticism for FilmDaze.

Amy is currently working on her first novel, The Museum of Photographical Hoaxes, which follows a young woman who starts receiving mysterious unsigned letters from a museum that doesn’t exist, that she suspects are to do with her recently-dead mother. Drawing on her own experience of bereavement, the book explores grief, friendship, and art in your early twenties.

When she’s not trying to write books, Amy reviews them on Instagram @writtenontheflyleaves.

Jessica Riches

Jessica Riches is a London-based writer, represented by Mark Brennan at United Agents. Her work has been recognised by the New Voice Awards, BBC Writersroom, The Hot House (BFI & BBC Writersroom), Cannes Unlimited, Screencraft and more.

Her first short film, horror romance BEAUTIFUL THINGS (House38 and RWI Productions) is currently being submitted to festivals. Directed by Maya Zupano (Institute Artists) and starring Tallulah Haddon (The Last Duel, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch), Loreece Harrison (Pennyworth, Misbehaviour, Black Mirror) and Tom Stourton (All My Friends Hate Me, Stath Lets Flats).

RESCUE is her next short, a proof-of-concept for a surreal climate horror feature.

Twitter: @littlemisswilde

Instagram: @littlemisswilde

Jiaxi Wang

Jiaxi Wang (they/them) is a writer and producer working in London. They were part of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab 2021/22 and were a recipient of Creative Access and McLaren Racing Career Development Bursary. In 2022, they staged their first solo show The Slug Show at Camden People's Theatre as part of the Sprint Festival. Subsequently, a reading of the play was shown at Nottingham University as the opening event of the Chinese Art Festival hosted by QueerChinaUK. They have also created a public participatory performance responding to hate crimes against women in China called Fake Proposal in Shanghai Picnic Art Festival in 2022 at The Tank. Jiaxi studied Creative Producing at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Clair Whitefield

Hello. My name's Clair. I am a poet, storyteller and playwright. I wrote Ossuary, after finding a dead mouse in my kitchen. My background is in spoken word and I’ve performed at the Ledbury Poetry Festival, Settle Storytelling Festival and Chester Literary Festival as well as in countless rooms above pubs and at open-mic nights.

In 2016, I took my one-woman poetry-play, Chopping Chillies, to the Edinburgh Fringe and then on a 40-date UK tour finishing in summer 2019. Over the last few years, I have been writing all sorts of things, from scripts to comedy sets, and I am hoping to do an MA in Poetry and Screenwriting this autumn. When I’m not performing or doing creative writing, I work as a copywriter. You can find out more about me, commission a poem or read my work at www.clairwhitefield.com. Alternatively, say hi on insta Alternatively, say hi on insta @cwhitefield

Amy Yeates

Amy is a London Library Emerging Writer from Wales, and trained in Leeds. Her work has been staged at Vaults, the Arcola and Theatre 503. This is her Messy debut.