Event info
Start Time: 6.00pm
Description
We are pleased to announce the latest People’s Play competition!
This Award is for playwrights from the North of England who are yet to have a full-length play performed professionally.
Past winners include Peter Straughan (BAFTA & Oscar-winner for ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’), Carina Rodney (Audible, BBC Radio 4, Live Theatre) and Alison Carr (National Theatre, Finalist: Women’s Prize for Playwriting, BBC Radio 4).
One winning script will be chosen for a six-night production by us in May 2025 in our Studio Theatre, and the writer will receive a cash prize of £1,000.
The judges for the competition are looking for a new full-length play on any subject, for a cast of any age or gender.
Don't worry about how old you are or much experience you have - the Award is open to everyone with a story to tell.
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Scripts are to be submitted by 6pm on Monday 30 September 2024
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Submissions are anonymous, so please do not include your name or any other identifying information on the script’s title page on anywhere else on the script.
In your email, please include your name, postal address, contact telephone number and email address.
If you are submitting your script by post, please include a separate front page with your name, postal address, contact telephone number and email address.
Entries should be emailed to thepeoplesplay@peoplestheatre.co.uk, or posted to ‘The People’s Play, People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5QF’
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Here are some factors to be considered when writing and submitting an entry:
Do send an original, unpublished and unproduced stage play. The play must not have had any production in any form, anywhere in the world, apart from a maximum of three public readings, showcases or performances. Please supply details of these readings/showcases/performances with your entry.
Do send a complete, full-length script. While there is provision for one read-through which may result in some redrafting, we are looking for a play that is largely ready for production.
Do send a stage play with a minimum running time of 60 minutes (there is no maximum running time). It can have an interval or not. If you're not sure how long your play is, try reading it out loud.
Do be aware of the space available (a black box studio with a performing area of approx. 5m x 7m).
Do think about the cast size. There have been plays with cast sizes of 2 - 20 in the Studio Theatre, so there's flexibility. We are an amateur theatre so have the luxury of being able to stage plays with larger casts. But equally, be realistic.
Do own and control all copyright and all other related rights to the submitted script. It must be available for production and unattached to any other organisation or individual.
Do currently live in the North of England.
Don't send TV, film or radio scripts.
Don't send translations, adaptations of classic plays or other existing works, or musicals.
Don't send more than one script. One entry per person.
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If you have any questions, please email thepeoplesplay@peoplestheatre.co.uk
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Please note, we are unable to provide feedback on entries.
And by entering, if you win you are granting the right to the People's Theatre to produce your script on stage for six performances in May 2025
A playwriting competition for Northern writers!