The Royal Court Theatre in London has announced the programme for its annual Young Writers Festival which has been running since 1973 and has launched the careers of many well-known playwrights.
This year's festival features, from the 300 scripts submitted, full productions of two plays plus four staged readings and ten short plays, plus there will be other events such as free workshops, talks and late night events in the bar.
The two fully-staged plays are Goodbye to All That by Luke Norris and Vera Vera Vera by Hayley Squires. There is a "pay-what-you-like night" for each play. The plays with staged readings will each be performed on two consecutive days: Brilliant Adventures by Alistair McDowall, Ain't No Law Against Fish 'n' Chips by Rose Lewenstein, Reflection by Rianna Mitchell-Henry and Where the Shot Rabbits Lay by Brad Birch.
This year's festival was opened up to writers as young as 8 years and included a six-week writing programme with 75 young people delivered by writers Debbie Tucker Green, EV Crowe and Nick Payne. There will be seven short plays from the 8 to 11 years age group and three from the 12 to 15 years age group performed as Saturday Shorts on 17 March.
For full information, see the Royal Court web site.