Outside Edge Celebrates 20th Birthday With Launch Of Script Writing Competition With Enda Walsh

Outside Edge Theatre Company celebrates its 20th birthday this November as the UK's only theatre company and participatory arts charity focused on addiction. To mark this momentous occasion OETC hosted an evening of performances at Troubadour Theatre (White City) on November 1st. As well as reflecting on the success of the past twenty years, the evening looked towards the future by announcing a new script competition to be judged by multi-award-winning playwright Enda Walsh and other leading theatre industry figures.

Over the last twenty years Outside Edge Theatre Company has created formally innovative theatre productions that examine issues related to substance misuse, addiction and recovery. Often working with professional performers and creatives with lived experience of recovery, OETC has produced new work at the Soho Theatre, VAULT Festival, Hoxton Hall, Riverside Studios and other London venues. The company also provides free, weekly peer-lead creative drama activities for people affected by addiction to help improve self-confidence, support recovery maintenance and transform lives. OETC's work with people in recovery was recently featured on BBC One's Sunday Morning Live.

OETC's ethos and belief that theatre can help lead people out of addiction and into recovery is rooted in the personal experience of founder Phil Fox who was a playwright, director, actor and recovering heroin addict. Phil ran the company for 15 years until his unexpected passing in 2014. OETC's current Artistic Director, Matt Steinberg, says, "Twenty years later, Phil Fox's incredible legacy is still being felt by thousands of past and current OETC participants affected by substance misuse. It is a privilege to celebrate the extraordinary impact this organisation has had on so many peoples' lives in both community settings and through our work on professional stages across the country. I feel honoured to lead a company spearheading change in the theatre industry by our introduction of diverse voices and stories about people affected by addiction, mental health problems and social exclusion. I look forward to OETC's next twenty years as a game changing theatre company with participation and inclusion at the heart of our innovative artistic output."

A vivid story about how OETC transforms peoples' lives through drama occurred years ago when the company toured a play about characters in recovery that was written by Phil Fox to a drug and alcohol treatment centre. In the production's final moments, a client named Sonya Hale stood up and said, "That's me! That's my life!!" She started attending OETC's drama workshops and eventually began to write plays. Eight years later she remains sober and is now an award-winning playwright with commissions from major theatre companies. She is also an OETC Associate Theatre Facilitator and leads our writers group. Sonya said of her time as an OETC service user, "Outside Edge, more than anything, has given me the greatest gift ever. Belief. Belief in myself and in the wonder of life itself."

The innovative and inspirational work undertaken by OETC has garnered support from high-profile personalities. One of OETC's Patrons, Sir Mark Rylance, says, "The work of Outside Edge changed my life as a man and a theatre artist. It proved to me that people can change and theatre can be a part of that." Another Patron, Jimmy Page OBE, says, "Outside Edge produces artistically excellent work that challenges and entertains audiences at the same time as making a real difference. Outside Edge's work with addicts - and the ways in which their performances awaken audiences and provoke debate - is quite simply stunning."

OETC's 20th birthday event on November 1st reflected on the past, showcased the talent of current participants and looked towards the next twenty years with an evening of stunning performances including from Simon Mason, lead singer of Hightown Pirates and author of OETC's 2014 hit Too High, Too Far, Too Soon.

As part of the evening's celebrations, Artistic Director Matt Steinberg announced an exciting new initiative in honour of OETC's founder: the Phil Fox Award for Playwriting. Launching next year, this national competition will invite playwrights to submit scripts about issues related to substance misuse and addiction. The competition will open for entries from March to June 2020. The winner of the cash prize and professional development opportunities will be announced in November 2020. Scripts will be judged by a panel of high-profile industry judges including multi-award-winning playwright Enda Walsh.

Enda Walsh's recent plays include Arlington (Galway International Festival); an adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Twits (The Royal Court); Ballyturk and Room 303, Misterman (Galway International Arts Festival); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, The New Electric Ballroom, and The Walworth Farce. He collaborated with David Bowie on the musical Lazarus, and won a Tony Award for writing the book for the musical Once. His film work includes Disco Pigs and Hunger, winner of the Camera d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Enda Walsh says, "It is a great honour to be associated with Outside Edge and I'm so looking forward to reading scripts submitted for this inaugural competition. Theatre can take on so many different shapes - its aesthetic and structure is extremely amorphous. Yet at its core we use theatre to make some sort of sense of 'us' in this peculiar and surprising and terrifying and wonderful world. The specific world of addiction, of substance dependence is complex and challenging. To those submitting - I wish them the very best of luck with their plays. Be brave. Use the medium."

More details for the inaugural Phil Fox Award for Playwriting will be announced in January 2020. OETC's Artistic Director Matt Steinberg says, "I am thrilled that Enda will chair the first Phil Fox Award judges committee. One of Enda's earliest plays, Sucking Dublin, was explicitly about substance misuse, but all of his work aligns with OETC's artistic mission to challenge dramatic form and shed light on hidden parts of society. His passion and commitment for nurturing talent will prove invaluable to ensure the competition's playwrights have the most creatively rewarding experience possible. I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate the first twenty years of OETC than by inspiring the next generation of theatre artists to share more stories about substance misuse and addiction with audiences for years to come."

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