Capturing the energy of the drama

Bill Hopkinson, Senior Lecturer in Drama at Edge Hill University, has been given the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for his work with playwrights from the North West.

The award is in recognition of the lecturer's role as a dramaturg, German for "capturing the energy of a drama", working with Manchester-based playwright Jane McNulty, best known for her script writing on soaps EastEnders and Emmerdale.

Describing the impact that Bill had on the playwriting process, Jane said: "Bill proved an intuitive, wise, sensitive and understanding dramaturg to me, helping me immeasurably as part of the North West Playwrights' and in developing my play ‘Our Lady of the Goldfinches'.

"As a TV writer previously and someone who was fairly inexperienced in writing for the theatre, I found his help crucial in shaping my play. He understood what I wanted to say and his suggestions were never less than inspiring. His encouragement has meant that I have the confidence to move on - I hadn't been able to do this as bad experiences of writing soaps had dinted my confidence as a dramatist."

The awards, given by the Theatre Committee of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, started in 2005 to highlight the importance of encouraging new writers. Members of the guild were asked to nominate individuals who had done outstanding and exceptional work to help new writing emerge during the previous year.

Bill Hopkinson said: "The first I knew of the award was when I received an email from the Theatre Committee of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. When a writer works in a particular discipline for any length of time, they can become engrained and as a dramaturg, it is my role to help the writer to see their art and creativity afresh, allowing them to write for a different audience."

Jane McNulty, a visiting Fellow in Creative Writing at Edge Hill from 2006, works primarily as a television scriptwriter with screen credits for episodes of various long-running series including Doctors, Crossroads, Heartbeat and Peak Practice. She has also written for the theatre with over 15 years' experience of teaching creative writing to adults and children, including distance learning, through her creation, The Writers' Ark a web-based co-operative of published and broadcast writer/tutors. Jane also runs workshops throughout the North West and Scotland. For four years she was Senior Tutor in Creative Writing for the Open College of the Arts.

Dominic Dromgoole, Artistic Director, The Globe Theatre, will also receive an award from the Guild at the ceremony.