Writing

Birmingham REP commissions 10-minute pop-up plays

28 September 2020

Birmingham REP has announced 12 new commissions, The Park Bench Plays: a series of short works from “some of UK theatre’s biggest writing talents and comedians alongside emerging playwrights”.

QuietManDave honoured in writing

22 September 2020

The QuietManDave Prize, in honour of Manchester critic Dave Murray who died last year, celebrates new and emerging short-form writers.

Heartbreak turns children’s lockdown stories into films

18 September 2020

Heartbreak Productions has completed “possibly the most ambitious creative project to be see in the UK for the past seven months”: a series of short films with children aged from 8 to 14.

Battle of Britain winning audio drama

14 September 2020

A competition winning play marking the Battle of Britain will be broadcast on 80th anniversary.

Popcorn Writing Award winners

30 August 2020

Jennifer Lunn wins The Popcorn Writing Award 2020 with Es and Flo.

Three start on new Northern plays

28 August 2020

Manchester ADP has set up long-term partnerships with three local writers to develop new plays.

Scripts invited into The Other Room

5 August 2020

Cardiff’s first pub theatre The Other Room calls out for new writing by creatives associated with Wales for New Page project.

Call out for Capsule Theatre Festival

26 July 2020

Writers are invited to submit short plays suitable for socially distanced rehearsals and performance for new festival of filmed work.

Sphinx 30, a landmark programme for female playwrights

19 July 2020

Sphinx Theatre partners with theatres to support the work of female playwrights in a new programme.

Oldham initiative launches three audio plays

19 July 2020

Oldham Coliseum, TripleC and Disabled Artists Networking Community have commissioned three short audio plays.

Igor Memic wins Papatango New Writing Prize

19 July 2020

Bosnian-born British playwright, Igor Memic, wins 12th Papatango New Writing Prize with a play to heal old wounds.

Ten Nights in Bolton

19 July 2020

Bolton Octagon has released audio recordings of 10 monologues—winners of the One Night In Bolton creative writing competition.

Octagon announces creative writing competition winners

7 July 2020

Bolton's Octagon Theatre has announced the winners of its One Night In Bolton writing competition, launched to encourage creativity in lockdown.

Cumbrian writers selected for script development

7 July 2020

Theatre by the Lake and Paines Plough have announced the four Cumbrian writers who have been commissioned under their Come to Where I Am project.

Chance for writers to adapt Wheatle novel

1 July 2020

Professional writers born, raised or based in the Midlands, are being invited to apply to adapt Alex Wheatle MBE’s novel Home Girl which is scheduled to run at Derby Theatre during summer 2021.

Hope Mill evening with Jonathan Harvey & £5k playwriting prize

25 June 2020

Manchester's Hope Mill Theatre is to present an online evening celebrating the work of writer Jonathan Harvey and is launching a playwriting prize with a prize of £5,000, a production at the theatre and mentorship from Harvey.

Vivien Leigh bio wins Theatre Book Prize

18 June 2020

The Society for Theatre Research has announced the winner of the Theatre Book Prize for titles published in 2019 as Dark Star by Alan Strachan.

Sci-fi drama: chance for emerging Midlands writers

16 June 2020

Up to seven up-and-coming writers are to get the chance to work on a digital TV series, SeaView, an original science-fiction drama drawing on the experiences of working-class communities in the West Midlands.

Writing micro-commissions from Alphabetti

15 June 2020

Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre is offering 9 micro-commissions to under-represented writers.

Toby Jones and Owen Teale star in winning short

14 June 2020

Bitter Pill's second podcast play, A Case Of Mistaken Identity written by Gus Crotty, is now available and stars Toby Jones and Owen Teale.

COVID-inspired song wins writing contest

14 June 2020

The Mercury Theatre Colchester and Perfect Pitch song writing contest has been won by Willy Mukendi, Joseph Riley and Millie Millington for "Alone".

New plays from women of colour

14 June 2020

ATC commissions new plays from Nessah Muthy and Yasmin Joseph.

Missing new writing

7 June 2020

Audiences and playwrights get more of the Bare E-Ssentials during lockdown.

Oldham Coliseum’s 'Mini-Podcast Series' continues to present new work

5 June 2020

For each episode of its Mini-Podcast Series, Oldham Coliseum has invited writers to respond to a theme within a specified length, with pieces ranging from 100 words to a 20-minute short audio-play.

Liverpool Hope National Playwriting Prize postponed until 2021

5 June 2020

Liverpool Hope University and Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre have postponed the Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize, which gives writers a chance to win £10,000 for comedy scripts, by twelve months.

Bush Theatre lockdown photo challenge

17 May 2020

Writers get behind weekly photo challenges, starting with Phoebe Eclair-Powell's fantasy images.

Playhouse seeks writer for Christmas show

25 April 2020

Nottingham Playhouse is on the lookout for a professional writer to create its annual festive family show.

Yellow Earth to start online course for Midlands writers

21 April 2020

Yellow Earth Academy, which has held an acting course in Birmingham for the past two years, is to offer a free introductory online course in writing for live performance.

Oldham Coliseum goes online

16 April 2020

Oldham Coliseum has released 100 Word Plays (about Oldham) as audio online and is preparing to launch a monologue challenge for school and college students.

Primary schoolers help create show

14 April 2020

Youngsters can contribute to the creation of the next adventure by Raddlesham Mumps creator.

Night of original work in Warwickshire

31 March 2020

A night of original live performance is being organised by Shoot Festival which showcases “the best emerging talent in Coventry and Warwickshire”.

News from Cardiff

24 March 2020

Cardiff's Sherman Theatre announces an evolving project aimed at artists affected by the coronavirus lockdown; and a Robinson Crusoe-inspired play is made available to view online.

Papatango monologues to be shared for free as video and PDF

23 March 2020

Papatango Theatre Company's Isolated But Open Commissions—Voices From Across The Shutdown will include two new monologues from Rachel De-Lahay and Anders Lustgarten alongside ten others chosen anonymously from an open call-out to be filmed and shared and published by Nick Hern Books as PDFs for free download.

Papatango new writing initiatives during theatre closures

18 March 2020

Papatango Theatre Company has announced a series of initiatives around new writing including open commissions for monologues, free circulation of 60 new play texts and free advice on Arts Council applications.

£10,000 prize for new comedy play

15 March 2020

The fourth Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize sees writers invited to submit their comedy scripts for a chance to win £10,000.

Customs House Takeover play director announced

12 February 2020

South Shields’ Customs House has announced who is to direct this year’s play from the Takeover Young Writer in Residence.

Writehouse invites new theatre writing submissions

7 February 2020

A new theatre scratch night for playwrights from Sunderland and beyond provides an informal, social environment and is open to all.

Monster of a writing challenge

2 February 2020

A creative writing challenge has been launched alongside the UK tour of A Monster Calls.

Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee

Hermione Lee

New Speak Re-imagined

Various

Isolated But Open: Voices from Across The Shutdown

Rachel De-Lahay, Anders Lustgarten

Vignettes

Laura Harper, Alexandra Keelan, Katherine McDermott, Jan McVerry, Ellen Taylo...