37 Plays Selected as Part Of The Royal Shakespeare Company's Nationwide Playwriting Project
Learn more about the lineup of plays here!
By: Stephi Wild Sep. 21, 2023
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) has announced that the chosen 37 Plays selected as part of its nationwide playwriting project, will receive script-in-hand readings across the UK throughout the Autumn of 2023.
Between September – November, script-in-hand readings of all of the 37 plays will take place across the country and in the RSC's rehearsal spaces in Clapham and at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon.
The readings mark the conclusion of a year-long search to discover the most exciting voices of today and to inspire conversation about what the future of dramatic writing might look and feel like, on and off our stages.
The readings will be performed by regionally-based professional and community actors, from all ages and backgrounds and have been produced in collaboration with theatres across the country including The Grand Theatre, Blackpool; The Alhambra Theatre, Bradford; The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury; Hall for Cornwall; Hull Truck Theatre; Intermission Youth; New Vic Theatre, Stoke on Trent; Northern Stage; Nottingham Theatre Royal; Norwich Theatre; Silhouette Youth Theatre and York Theatre Royal.
Pippa Hill, Head of New Work at the Royal Shakespeare Company, said, “It has always been vital to the RSC to celebrate, nurture and stage the voices of contemporary writers alongside our house playwright and we feel very privileged to have met and worked alongside so many writers that are new to us over the past 12 months. The writers of the chosen 37 plays have all received bespoke dramaturgical support and are now building strong relationships with the RSC's network of Theatre Partners in order to be fully involved in the preparations for the readings of their plays to be held this autumn.
When we embarked on this initiative, we always envisioned this collection of new plays to be read and performed all over the country in collaboration with our partner theatres: on their stages and on community stages, in schools and by both amateur and professional acting companies. We are delighted that this autumn there will be a nationwide celebration of these 37 plays alongside readings of additional plays written as a response to the project. For some of our partners, these celebrations will kick-start annual playwriting festivals, regular playwriting sessions for their communities and future collaborations with the writers, ensuring a strong foundation for the development of further new writing initiatives.”
The search for plays closed on 31 January 2023, attracting 2,000+ submissions from across the UK. Over a six-week period, 24 readers read 31 plays per week to create an initial longlist of 350 plays. From the longlist, a total of 71 plays were shortlisted for commendation with the final 37 coming from locations as far afield as Devon to Edinburgh and from writers aged under 11, from 11 – 17 and over 18+.
Play submissions were divided into three age categories of up to 11 years old, 11 to 17 years old and 18 years old and above. Multi-authored plays were invited to nominate a lead writer or average age of writers.
Submissions were requested to be predominantly written in English, or in British Sign Language, with a translation provided for any text not in English language. Submissions needed to be a complete original story, not a sample of a story or an adaptation of a story and submitted plays should not have had a professional production or have been under commission at the time of submission.
The 37 Plays judging panel was chaired by Erica Whyman and also included Director of The Unicorn Theatre Rachel Bagshaw, actor and RSC Associate Artist Ray Fearon, Theatre Critic and Associate Editor of The Stage Lyn Gardner, RSC Youth Advisory Board members Harry and Ella, best-selling author Sharna Jackson, 2018 Ian Charleson Award-winner Bally Gill, award-winning playwrights Mark Ravenhill and Juliet Gilkes Romero and actor/writer and RSC Associate Artist David Threlfall.
Commenting on the initiative, Lyn Gardner, said, “Being on the panel was so exhilarating and eye-opening because it revealed the depth and breadth of playwriting in all corners of the UK. It's such a necessary reminder that there really is talent everywhere, in every community when people are given the opportunity to express it. The selected plays are such a brilliant and revealing snapshot about what it is like to live in the UK at this point in the 21st century”.
Celebrating the final 37 plays is not the end for many new writers around the country. As part of the project, writers also led workshops in partner theatres to get people writing for the first time. Of the 2000 submissions we received, just over 50% were from writers who described themselves as new or relatively new to writing plays. Many plays outside of the 37, (some that weren't even submitted) are being celebrated in theatres, schools and community venues as part of the project.
All of the 37 plays selected have been awarded a fee for publication, performance and/or broadcast. Any submission subsequently commissioned for production are subject to usual commission processes approved by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.
Full details of Terms and Conditions of entry and associated FAQs can be accessed via 37plays.co.uk
Play Details
Radiant Boy & The Filleting App
Nancy Netherwood & Alex Oates
Northern Stage, Newcastle Upon Time
Saturday 23 Sep 6pm
Momentary Masters
Jacob Thomas
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Monday 2 Oct 7.30pm
Pram Talk & Stars
Rosanna Jahangard and Abigail White
Blackpool Grand Theatre
Tuesday 3 Oct 7pm
Beltane
Billie Collins
Blackpool Grand Theatre
Friday 6 Oct 2pm and 7pm
Alfie and the War & The Doris Effect
Molly Sue Cartwright & Tim Wallers
New Vic Theatre, Newcastle under Lyme
Friday 6 Oct 1.30pm and 5.30pm
Human Resources & Effort//Less
Chloe Banks & Hayley-Rose Jarman-Norris
Hall for Cornwall
Saturday 7 Oct, 7pm
Human Resources & Effort//Less
Chloe Banks & Hayley-Rose Jarman-Norris
St. Andrew's Church, Redruth
Wednesday 11 Oct, 7pm
Human Resources & Effort//Less
Chloe Banks & Hayley-Rose Jarman-Norris
Liskerrett Centre, Liskeard
Friday 13 Oct, 7pm
The Ever Changing Sea
Jordon Grant
Norwich Theatre
Saturday 14 Oct, 3pm
Go Back Home!
Hannah Shury-Smith
RSC Clapham
Tuesday 17 Oct, 3pm
Jack in a Box & Growing Pains
Joanne Thomson & Hannah Eggleton
Hull Truck Theatre
Thursday 19 Oct, 7pm
Evie of Windrush
Joan Jackson-Callen
RSC Clapham
Thursday 19 Oct, 3pm
Jack in a Box & Growing Pains
Joanne Thomson & Hannah Eggleton
Hull Truck Theatre
Thursday 19 Oct and Friday 20 Oct, 7pm
North Star
Norwich Theatre
Saturday 21 Oct, 3pm
LilyPower
Amy Bethan Evans
RSC Clapham
Tuesday 24 Oct, 3pm
Butterflies
Rob Thorpe-Woods
RSC Clapham
Thursday 26 Oct, 3pm
RE: Jane Doe
Patty Kim Hamilton
York Theatre Royal
Friday 3 Nov, 7pm
The Last Picture
Catherine Dyson
York Theatre Royal
Saturday 4 Nov, 2pm
And I Dreamt I was Drowning
York Theatre Royal
Saturday 4 Nov, 7pm
Still Life (with Mangos)
Ruby Kitching
Nottingham Theatre Royal
Monday 6 Nov, 7.30pm
Something To Take Off the Edge
Errol McGlashan
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Monday 6 Nov, 4pm
Lewisham to Llandudno
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Tuesday 7 Nov, 7.30pm
Godmodders and Metagamers
Hannah Kennedy
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Wednesday 8 Nov, 3pm & 6pm
Russell
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon,
Thursday 9 Nov, 7.30pm
Frenemies, Fish, Bruno, Life Goes On & Stargazer
Edward Keppel & Maximilian Kufuor & Dylan Punch & Isabella James & Grace Hemmings-Buckler
Silhouette Youth Theatre, Weston Favell Shopping Centre
Friday 10 Nov 6.30pm, Saturday 11 Nov 2pm and 6.30pm
Land Wreck
Mia Lloyd
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Friday 10 Nov, 2.30pm
NOT
Lisa Parry
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Friday 10 Nov, 3.30pm
This is a Gift
Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Saturday 11 Nov, 7.30pm
Abandoned (relaxed performance)
Felicity Williamson
Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Thursday 16 Nov, 1pm
Friday Night at the Masjid & Abandoned
maatin & Felicity Williamson
Alhambra Theatre, Bradford
Saturday 18 Nov, 7pm
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