Squint to Present Work from Emerging Playwrights From Low-Income Backgrounds at Theatre Royal Stratford East

Award-winning, East London theatre company Squint has announced the The Squint Playwriting Award Showcase which presents the work of nine emerging playwrights from low-income backgrounds. Following a six-month Educational Programme, the Showcase features ten minutes of each writer's work from a full-length play they are developing, performed by a professional cast, directed by Debbie Hannan and Andrew Whyment.

Following the Showcase, one participant will be awarded The Squint Playwriting Award, a Writer's Guild of Great Britain one-act play commission, to realise their first full-length play. This includes a commissioning fee of £6110 and six months of additional mentorship and dramaturgical support.

The Punjabi Alien Play by Neetu Singh | A sci-fi family comedy following the chaos in a family home as aliens take over East London. The capital issues a lockdown but what happens when an unexpected guest arrives at the Singh's house?

Take Care by Tim McNiven | Josh has moved back to Essex to work in the local care home. The home's on the brink of special measures and its staff on the brink of burnout. The thing is Josh's sister works there, and he doesn't see another way she'll speak to him again.

THERICH by Gabrielle MacPherson | In a rural farming village only three people remain, everyone else has left or died. Homes are rotting and so's the food they're supposed to be eating. Ignored and forgotten about, they fight to survive. So how hungry do you have to be to Eat The Rich?

Sweet N Salty by Jaime Lock | Tommy is forced to move back home with their mum, Sal, who has turned their bedroom into an art studio. The thing Sal's making though, strikes an unwelcome chord in Tommy.

Altab Ali Zindabad by Amin Ali | In 1979, Altab Ali - a twenty-four-year-old Bangladeshi textile worker living in Whitechapel - was brutally murdered on his way home from work in a racially motivated attack carried out by three young men. This drama shows how Altab's death politically mobilised the British Bangladeshi community and the East End and lead to radical change.

Kill My Darling by Beattie Green | Sees Andie and Zoe on the road to parenthood but an act of betrayal frays the fabric of their romance, leaking out and disrupting the very structure of their story. Time is queer and adults act like babies in a play that asks: how are babies really made?

ONTWORTELED by Milla Sutton | When time-hopping god of harvest Ezekiel Wonderstone accepts an exceptional request from a contract labourer in a 1917 Surinamese plantation he's met with an unwanted offering in a modern-day British greenhouse and he seeks to understand the significance of inheriting cultural identity.

Don't Run In Heels by Nicole Botha | What would you do if you were told you couldn't dance again? The dancers at Players strip club are fighting against the Nil Cap policy threatening to close down their world, but can a sex worker change the minds of the people who make the rules? Including sound design by Joseph James.

Woodrot by Sophie McKay | When a PTA committee meets to decide the fate of their idyllic school's extension, they are ambushed by a surprise arrival and faced with a moral dilemma. Woodrot explores the fearful threat of 'other', our own uncomfortable inner biases and interrogates the complexities of diversity.

Supported by Applecart Arts, Arts Council England, Cardboard Citizens, Compass Collective, Hackney Empire, John Thaw Foundation, Maria Björnson Memorial Fund, National Youth Theatre, Synergy Theatre Project, Theatre Royal Stratford East's Freelance Royalty Scheme and Unity Theatre Trust.

This is a pilot year of what Squint hopes to be an annual programme.

For further information: https://www.squinttheatre.com/the-squint-playwriting-award

Neetu (she/her) is a writer and director from Hackney interested in rigorous and inclusive theatre-making. She read English at the University of Oxford where she founded Tamasha Associate Company, Haldi. She directed at the Mercury Theatre, Edinburgh and Camden Fringe and is participating on the Young Vic's Fresh Direction Programme.

Tim (he/him) is a writer and comedian. He has a friend who puts a ridiculous amount of every sauce he can find on his chips, and likes theatre which is a little like that. When Tim's not writing, he enjoys talking about himself in the third-person.

Gabrielle (she/her) is an actor, writer, facilitator and stand up. Fueled by the feverish want to make art accessible for all (and chips, cheese and gravy) Gabrielle spends most of her days writing, leading workshops on everything from Shakespeare to giants and trying to make people laugh.

Jaime (they/them) is a writer from the Isles of Scilly. Their poems are published by fourteen poems, Broken Sleep Books and Impossible Archetype among others. Jaime was a BBC New Creative and is a recipient of the FylmK Award.

Amin (he/him) is a British Bangladeshi multidisciplinary theatre and film maker from Bletchley, Milton Keynes. He is founder of production company LOWD and social initiative LOWD Space. Amin works as an actor, amassing over sixty credits across film, theatre and voice work. Writing credits include Chicken Cottage and Common curated by Rikki Beadle-Blair.

Beattie (they/she) is a young playwright whose work has been performed at The National Theatre (New Views) and the Corpus Playroom in Cambridge, as well as read at the Royal Court Upstairs. Interested in miscommunication and how language both makes and destroys us, Beattie's work focuses especially on telling queer stories.

Milla (they/he) is a London-based actor, writer, eco-conscious costumer and drag artist, Bard The Beholder, working in theatre and cabaret. Acting credits include Mulan Rouge and Witches Of Oz at The Vaults and they are a member of The Bush Theatre Young Company.

Nicole (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and theatre maker from South Africa. She blends poetry, playwriting and film to tell untold stories. Her credits include Call Me By My Name at Applecart Arts Theatre and 10 Reasons Why at the Arcola Theatre.

Sophie (she/her) is both frustrated and in love with the world. So she writes about it. Sophie has previously completed Soho Young Writers' Lab. She writes about class, race, injustice and anything in between, through an often comedic lens. Sophie is half of a writing duo with her sister, Endy McKay. Sophie is represented by Dench Arnold.

Performance Date: Friday 03 November 7pm

Running Time: 2.5 hours (inc interval)

Location: Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, Theatre Square, London E15 1BN

Showcase Credits

Actors | Amin Ali, Nicole Botha, Jacqui Dubois, Kasper Hilton-Hille, Ruchika Jain, Munir Khairdin, Josi Kohlik, Helena Lymbery, Sonia Singh, EM Williams, Jacoba Williams, Adeola Yemitan

Directors | Debbie Hannan, Andrew Whyment

Dramaturg | Lee Anderson

Videographer | Luke Dale

Producer (Squint) | Claire Gilbert

Senior Producer (Theatre Royal Stratford East) | Catherine Morgenstern

Producer (Theatre Royal Stratford East) | Sean Brooks

Deputy Stage Manager | Lavinia Serban

Programme Credits

Facilitators | Lee Anderson, Andrew Whyment

Assistant Facilitator | Adeola Yemitan

Producer | Claire Gilbert

Associates | Adam Foster, Kane Husbands, Louise Roberts, Ash J Woodward

Masterclass Facilitators | Debbie Hannan, Isley Lynn, Nick Makoha

Q&A Guests | Kirsten Foster, Sean Brooks, David Byrne, Chris Sonnex

Mentors | Zia Ahmed, Samson Hawkins, Matilda Feyisayo Ibini, Sami Ibrahim, Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, Hannah Kumari, Tabby Lamb, Isley Lynn, Sid Sagar, Beth Steel

In partnership with Applecart Arts, Arts Council England, Hackney Empire and Theatre Royal Stratford East's Freelance Royalty Scheme.

Supported by John Thaw Foundation, Maria Bjornson Memorial Fund and Unity Theatre Trust.

Recruitment in partnership with Cardboard Citizens, Compass Collective, National Youth Theatre and Synergy Theatre Project.

Squint is an award-winning East London theatre company that stages stories about the here and now. They collide new writing, choreography and genre in unexpected ways to create thrilling nights at the theatre. Squint was founded at the University of Reading in 2009 by Artistic Director, Andrew Whyment. They have been working with writers and producing new work since 2010. Today they are London-based but work internationally. Previous productions include Long Story Short (Charing Cross Theatre) and Molly (Charlie Hartill Award, The Stage Award). Their programme of Online Workshops equips participants with creative tools that can be applied to their own writing and devising projects. They are wholly inclusive and focused on creating space for people of all ages and experience who are looking to develop new ideas or nurture existing projects. In 2020-21, Squint delivered 25 workshops and engaged over 300 participants from around the world; they include actors who have never written before, writers who need a jumpstart and directors who are devising for the first time. Thanks to Arts Council England funding and partnerships with Compass Collective, Open Door, and the National Youth Theatre, they were able to offer bursaries to artists from low-income backgrounds. Education work is led by Andrew Whyment, Lee Anderson, Adam Foster, Louise Roberts, Claire Gilbert, Kane Husbands and Ash J Woodward. They've designed and facilitated education and participation projects for organisations including The National Theatre, Synergy Theatre Project, Good Chance Theatre, The Old Vic, the National Youth Theatre, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and Hackney Empire.

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