Playwright’s work to be performed at city theatre

A YOUNG Warrington playwright has had his work selected for performance at The Royal Exchange, Manchester later this month – just seven months after his last commission at the prestigious venue.
Luke Gilfedder, aged 22, from Padgate, has had his piece “What Art Means in 2015” chosen for performance on Monday, November 9.
The piece is described as a speech discussing youth culture, politics and the future of art in the current economic situation.
It was written in response to a call-out from The Royal Exchange for “thought-provoking talks and creative provocations from young people”.
Since turning down a place at University College London in 2011 to go it alone as a playwright, Luke has established “Finn Youth Production”’ and has with them achieved a string of successes including “Trash” on London’s West End, shows at the Lyric Hammersmith in London, a previous show at the Royal Exchange in 2012 entitled “That’s Jam” and plaudits from National Theatre Director Sir Nicholas Hytner.
Luke’s group will also be making their hometown debut in Warrington after the Royal Exchange show, performing a short preview of an upcoming play “Riviera Nightmare” at The Pyramid on  November 28 as part of the Warrington Arts Community Showcase.
Luke said: “‘It’s great news to be back at the Royal Exchange so soon after the last success this year – the news is also a fantastic boost ahead of our long overdue Warrington debut later in November.
“I’m really proud the Royal Exchange have accepted this speech – the message for the event is that creativity must become more (not less!) important for young people as times get harder.
“As a generation we can only make culture develop if we challenge ourselves to ask more serious questions of the times than what we see in our media, and the challenge alone of doing this can make us all more optimistic for the future!
“Finn Youth has been going from strength to strength for over four years now – I hope this can be a sign to other local writers that grass-roots organizations can succeed with hard work – you don’t have to move to London or Edinburgh in order to be successful in the industry.”
The speech will being delivered on the  November 9 by Danielle Roseler, a member of Luke’s theatre group Finn Youth Productions.