People

New plays by Essex dramatist

Drama fans are in for a treat this Christmas and New Year with two plays by University playwright Elizabeth Kuti due to open in London and air on BBC Radio 3.

Elizabeth Kuti, of the Centre for Theatre Studies, worked as an actress and playwright in Irish theatre before taking up her post at Essex. Her new play, The Sugar Wife, will open at the Soho Theatre in London on 19 January. Set amongst the Quaker community in Dublin in 1850, the play focuses on Samuel and Hannah Tewkley, a wealthy couple dealing in the tea and coffee trade. The Tewkley's comfortable world starts to disintegrate after they take in a freed slave and an English philanthropist.

The Sugar Wife will be presented by the Rough Magic company with which Elizabeth has had a long partnership: 'I worked with Rough Magic in Dublin as an actress and they produced one of my earliest plays, The Whisperers, which was a completed version of an unfinished eighteenth-century comedy called A Trip to Bath by Frances Sheridan. The Whisperers toured around Ireland, and then played at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival. Lynne Parker, the artistic director of Rough Magic, commissioned The Sugar Wife as a follow-up to that project, so I am delighted to be working with her and with the company again.'

Another of Elizabeth's plays, Mr Fielding's Scandal Shop, will be broadcast on Christmas Day on Radio 3. It is set in the theatrical world of 1736 when Henry Fielding, the author of Tom Jones, was a playwright and the manager of the Little Haymarket Theatre known for staging satirical plays mounted against Robert Walpole and his administration.

Elizabeth's previous successes include Treehouses, which was commissioned and produced by the Abbey theatre and which won her the Stewart Parker BBC Radio Award in 2000; and the BBC Radio 4 play May Child which starred Patricia Routledge and Roy Hudd.

The Sugar Wife will be at the Soho Theatre in London from 19 January to 11 February, for further details see www.sohotheatre.com. Mr Fielding's Scandal Shop will be on BBC Radio 3 at 8pm on Christmas Day.

New post for Head of Admissions

Mike Nicholson, Head of Undergraduate Recruitment and Admissions, has been elected Vice-Chairman of the Higher Education Liaison Officer's Association (HELOA).

Mike was previously the National Training Officer for HELOA, an organisation which represents and provides training for staff who liaise with schools and colleges and provide information about higher education options. He is one of two people chosen recently to be Vice-Chair of the association, taking responsibility for liaison with five out of ten regions in the UK. He will be working closely with the Department of Education and Skills and the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Mike, who will be taking up his two year post in January, said: 'The next couple of years will be a very important period for the higher education liaison field, with the introduction of the £3,000 tuition fees. Individual institutions are going to have to look long and hard at how they promote themselves. HELOA's collaborative promotion of higher education as a whole should be helpful to the institutions and to prospective students.'

Students STEP onto career ladder

Fifteen students from the University were among more than 1,000 undergraduates across the UK taking part in STEP, a programme which offers project-based work experience in small and medium-sized companies.

Seven of the group were finalists in the 2005 East of England regional STEP awards scheme, which recognises the students' successes in the projects undertaken during their summer placement.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Andy Downton with some of the Essex students at the regional STEP awards finals

The Essex students found placements in a range of companies across the technology, engineering, training and retail sectors. To celebrate their achievements, the University hosted a lunch at Wivenhoe House last month for the students, attended by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Rob Massara.

Joanna Symons, Head of the University's Careers Advisory Service, which has been supporting STEP (Shell Technology Enterprise Programme) for some years, said: 'Every year STEP has allowed students to gain really useful experience within small firms in the region, which has certainly contributed to the students' own CVs when they apply for jobs at the end of their degree.

'Several Essex students have obtained their first jobs with companies they did a placement with. Students are always totally enthusiastic about their experience, as they not only gain useful skills but also have a very enjoyable time.'

The Careers Advisory Service is arranging a presentation for penultimate year students by a STEP representative. For more information, please contact the Careers Advisory Service, e-mail: careers@essex.ac.uk. See www.step.org.uk for further information.

Also in the printed December edition of Wyvern:

• Student scientist awarded

• Essex student wins national job prize

• From Germany to Essex

• Biological Sciences retirement

• Help at hand to boost research funding