Made in Cornwall Scratch Nights
July 2025

We want to establish a vibrant Scratch culture in Cornwall. A collaboration between leading Cornwall’s cultural institutions Hall for Cornwall, Miracle Theatre, Carn to Cove, intoBodmin, AMATA and imPOSSIBLE Producing, our Made in Cornwall Scratch Nights offer a safe space for exploration and a fertile ground for discussion about new work within the artistic community. They're all about being brave and testing out ideas in front of a friendly, creative and constructive audience who have the chance to share valuable feedback. 

The next Scratch Night is fast approaching this Monday 21 July.
Meet the five Cornwall-based creative individuals and duos who'll be performing their works-in-progress: Dorka Zátonyi, Karen Pirie and Sarah Connors, Michelle Sudworth, Emily and Craig Barr Green, and Jo Mason.

Dorka Zátonyi

Photo Credit: Mark Robson

Dorka is a dance artist originally from Hungary. She discovered her passion for dance at a young age and later moved to the UK to complete her full-time training at Falmouth University in Cornwall. Dorka has since relocated to Cardiff, but regularly comes to Cornwall to reconnect with the creative scene. She most recently performed in the HfC Emerging Movement showcase in June, a curated event where performers from across the region came together to showcase new work.

Dorka will be performing a piece that draws on her experiences of navigating life across different cultural contexts. It explores themes of cultural identity and self-expression, blending dance with spoken word. The piece explores body language, and the space where instinct and learned behavior intersect. It questions what it means to truly understand one another, offering a perspective enriched by cultural diversity.

Karen Pirie and Sarah Connors

Playwright Sarah Connors and creative storyteller Karen Pirie have both been in Cornwall for many years, in fact, Karen’s great-great grandfather was a lighthouse keeper at Land’s End! Sarah Connors has written two plays for the Theatre! show at this year's Youth Celebration: Toes and The Ghosts of Pendu Manor.

They're performing Fantasy Funeral at this month's Scratch Night,  a theatrical journey into one of life’s most profound questions: what does it truly mean to be a good person? At the heart of this project are the voices of real people - volunteers who give their time, energy and compassion to others. Do they expect anything in return or are their actions selfless? Their stories, filled with quiet heroism and humanity are shaping the soul of the piece. For Scratch Night, they are workshopping the character of Cat on stage. Flawed, self-serving, and painfully human, Cat's journey is not one of perfection, but of possibility.

Michelle Sudworth

Michelle is a drama teacher and member of HfC's Shakespeare Nation, an adult acting group run by HfC's Get Creative in collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Michelle most recently performed on the Cornwall Playhouse stage in Shakespeare Nation's community performance piece Hamlet: Hawk from a Handsaw, a thrilling and topical piece based on the Bard’s epic tragedy.

At the latest Scratch Night, Michelle will be performing her work in progress piece, It's About Time. Time as we know it is a man-made construct, and we navigate big questions using science, poetry and movement in an attempt to answer how we perceive, navigate and map it. It's About Time explores the concept of time beyond our daily linear experience.

Emily Barr and Craig Barr Green

Emily is a novelist with eight published books under her writer's belt. She began her career in London, but has now lived in Cornwall for 20 years with her husband Craig, who writes fiction, non-fiction, and theatre for children, and is a lecturer at Falmouth University. Craig and Emily can often be found at HfC's Writer's Table, a monthly meetup for working and aspiring writers to gather for coffee and a catchup to discuss their projects.

They will be performing Judas (Not That One!) at Scratch Night, a play that came out of an Easter Sunday conversation in a car, between Craig, Emily, and two of their teenage children. They realised there were two disciples called Judas and became intrigued by the perspective of the Judas who wasn't the famous betrayer. The piece is set in a café and explores food as a catalyst for human interaction. Although experienced and established writers, writing for an adult play is new territory for Emily and Craig, and so they're excited for how the Scratch Night format will shape their piece and help them understand audience perception.

Jo Mason

Jo Mason is a self-described mother, teacher, lover, fighter, smiler, scowler, wine drinker, beach lover, festival goer, doggo best friend and now, fairly newbie writer and performer!  (And breathe!) After growing up in Birmingham with an interest in the arts, Jo trained in the 90s as a performing and community artist at LIPA. This led to a 20 year hiatus from writing and performing, while Jo spent her time teaching secondary school drama from Birmingham to Plymouth, to Kenya, to Cornwall. Jo has recently rediscovered a love of storytelling and performing.

Jo has been continuing to work on her piece, Mags, which she performed at the last Scratch Night in March. Mags is a solo piece about woman in her late 40s navigating the highs and lows of dating. It's aim is to combine the lyrical nature of spoken word with more naturalistic prose, to explore what life is like for a woman of a certain age, who suddenly finds herself single. Menopausal sweats and embarrassing encounters aside, Mags tries to navigate her ever changing reality. 

Scratch Night at the Cornwall Playhouse
Mon 21 Jul, 7pm

£- pay what you can!

Scratch Nights are hosted all around creative venues in Cornwall, including on the Cornwall Playhouse stage. Please see the Scratch Nights webpage for information on the next Scratch Night. Come along and be part of the process!