British Theatre Guide

News, reviews, features and podcast on theatre across the UK

Writing

Writing podcast episodes

Writing news

Honour: Alexia McIntosh

Alexia starts Birmingham theatre’s online workshops

22 January 2021

Birmingham’s Alexia McIntosh has kicked off a series of digital masterclasses at the Hippodrome in the city: 25 online workshops for young people aged between 7 and 25.

The Neon Shadow - behind the scenes image - performer Edwin Ray playing Shadow

The colourful Shadow of Kneehigh

18 January 2021

Kneehigh has released a free online educational resource pack, The Shadow Kit.

Black women's Voices against violence

17 January 2021

Interdisciplinary performance arts project is now accepting submissions until 14 February for campaign against violence towards women.

Shook goes online

Papatango Shook online

17 January 2021

Papatango New Writing Prize-winner Shook has been filmed and will be online next month, whilst this year's Prize continues to accept submissions.

Octagon rehearsal space

Octagon makes space for new ideas

15 January 2021

Throughout January, Bolton Octagon will host three local artists in its brand new rehearsal space following a £12 million redevelopment.

Creative sessions: The Courtyard goes online

Online courses at The Courtyard

7 January 2021

The Courtyard Hereford is to deliver a range of classes online, enabling participants to engage in creative sessions from the safety of their homes.

The Women's Writes Online Festival

The Women's Writes Online Festival

27 December 2020

Five new short plays challenging stereo-typical depictions of womxn will be shown in the new year.

Peterborough New Theatre exterior

UK young writers to work with US counterparts

27 December 2020

Applications are open for young storytellers to join Peterborough New Theatre's bridging initiative with Brooklyn Youth Company.

45North launch scheme for gender-diverse theatre creatives

13 December 2020

Three gender-diverse theatre creatives will be chosen to participate in a new seed commission initiative from 45North to support work by underrepresented groups.

Daniel Ward wins George Devine Award

29 November 2020

The George Devine Award has been given to Daniel Ward for his debut play The Canary and the Crow.

Bush Theatre - script submissions window open until 10 January

Bush Theatre welcomes scripts

29 November 2020

Open submissions of full-length plays will be accepted by London's Bush Theatre until 10 January.

Judge Cleo Sylvestre

Theatre Book Prize judges announced

27 November 2020

The Society for Theatre Research has announced the judging panel for books published in 2020 and publishers are now invited to submit entries.

Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

Last Call at Hope Mill Theatre

24 November 2020

Hope Mill Theatre is calling for any final submissions for its new playwriting prize.

Chamber Musical Project

British Musical theatre writers invited to pitch

22 November 2020

Producers Katy Lipson and Adam Lenson are looking for writers for a commission of up to £6,000 for their new Chamber Musical Project.

Pravin Wilkins, winner Theatre503 International Playwriting Award

American wins Theatre503 writing Award

22 November 2020

An emerging US writer has won the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award with a play set in the world of American football and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Previous participants of Selladoor's new writers programme

New writers programme from Selladoor

22 November 2020

Selladoor Worldwide put some of its DCMS funding towards developing new writers.

Jodi Ann Nicholson in The Branches of Me

Plethu / Weave crosses Welsh art forms

13 November 2020

Since August, eight dancers have been matched with eight poets to create eight short films, which are now available to watch online.

Liverpool's Royal Court Studio

Liverpool looking for stage writers

1 November 2020

Liverpool’s Royal Court continues its search for new scriptwriting talent.

HouseFire - Eleanor Kane

Metta helps the arts go green

26 October 2020

Climate crisis solutions for arts organisations on offer from new consultancy.

Live Bursary Winners 2020

Live Theatre bursaries announced

15 October 2020

Newcastle’s Live Theatre has announced bursaries for 13 writers

New writing for theatre from Sunderland

14 October 2020

Sunderland Culture presents Writehouse, an evening of new writing for the theatre, live streamed in front of a real audience.

Writing award seeking Northern talent

Looking for Northern writers

14 October 2020

Manchester-based theatre company Box of Tricks and Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub have teamed for the launch of the inaugural Screen/Play Award.

Elizabeth Ingram Wallace

Two scoop new writing awards

14 October 2020

Elisabeth Ingram Wallace and David Calder have won the first QuietManDave short-form writing awards.

British Youth Music Theatre - New Music Theatre Award 2021 - image from BYMT's The Dickens Girls

BYMT New Music Theatre Award 2021

4 October 2020

Young writers and composers are invited to submit applications for the British Youth Music Theatre New Music Theatre Award.

HOME stages Identity parade

1 October 2020

Resident artists at Manchester's HOME arts venue, Young Identity, are to create the first live performance there since March.

The writers commissioned to come up with the Park Bench Plays

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.

The children whose lockdown stories were turned into films by Heartbreak along with two of the actors who appeared in some of the stories

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.

Alistair Petrie

Battle of Britain winning audio drama

14 September 2020

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

Jennifer Lunn - Popcorn Award winner 2020

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.

Yasmin Begum, The Other Room's newly appointed community engagement officer

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.

Capsule Festival

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 Theatre Company

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.

Distance by DANC writers and performers

Oldham initiative launches three audio plays

19 July 2020

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

Papatango New Writing Prize

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.

Daon Broni, Shaban Dar, Ruth Madeley, Claire Moore, Karla Marie Sweet

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.

The new Octagon Theatre building

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.

Daneka Etchells

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.

Writer of the novel Home Girl, Alex Wheatle

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.

An Evening with Jonathan Harvey at Hope Mill Theatre

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.

Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh

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.

Product of a new collaboration: SeaView

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.

Mercury Songwriting Contest

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".

Actors Touring Company

New plays from women of colour

14 June 2020

ATC commissions new plays from Nessah Muthy and Yasmin Joseph.

Encompass Productions' Bare E-ssentials

Missing new writing

7 June 2020

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

Oldham Coliseum Mini-Podcast Series - Episode 1 cast

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.

Colin Dowland, last year's Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize winner

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.

Reviews

The Theatre of Rupert Goold

The Theatre of Rupert Goold

Sarah Grochala

Methuen Drama

Released 12 November 2020

Theatre in Times of Crisis

Theatre in Times of Crisis

Dom O’Hanlon (ed)

Methuen Drama

Released 29 October 2020

Kwame Kwei-Armah

The New Tomorrow

Various Artists

Young Vic

Young Vic

From 4 October 2020

Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee

Hermione Lee

Faber and Faber

Released 1 October 2020

The Writer’s Toolkit

The Writer’s Toolkit

Paul Kalburgi

Nick Hern Books

Released 1 October 2020

Three Uses of the Knife

Three Uses of the Knife

David Mamet

Bloomsbury

Released 1 October 2020

Richard Bean: Plays 6

Richard Bean: Plays 6

Richard Bean

Methuen Drama

Released 17 September 2020

The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson

The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson

Eamonn Jordan

Methuen Drama

Released 20 August 2020