Next year is the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the first folio of plays by William Shakespeare.
To mark this event, the Royal Shakespeare Company is asking for UK based playwrights (or aspiring playwrights) to send them their own plays of between one and one-hundred pages (A4, minimum font size 10), during January 2023.
Shakespeare is the author of 37 plays, and the idea is that the best 37 plays submitted to this competition will be staged as script in hand performances. These readings are likely to attract good audiences, including people within the theatre business, so some scripts may be picked up for full performances in other theatres across the UK.
The competition appears to be quite straightforward. There is no set subject matter, beyond the brief that submissions should be ‘contemporary plays that capture the stories of the nation … and reflect the world we live in today.’ Entry is free.
Interested? You have over ten months to get your entry in, so there is really no excuse. To help get the creative juices flowing, the organisers have issued some tips. Here are a few from the playwright, Juliet Gilkes Romero:
1. Observe people:
We are surrounded by people, friends, neighbours, strangers, work mates. Who knows what challenges or triumphs are faced every hour, every minute, every second of the day? What are their stories? Their lived experience of this street for example? This city, country, world?
2. Look at what is in the news:
Check out a newspaper feature, a tweet or a social media post that surprises or shocks you. You may see something that excites you or makes your blood boil. I certainly see a lot of things that take my breath away in good ways and bad.
3. Take inspiration from history:
Take a walk, check out the local buildings – who lived and loved here? You begin to see how stories can reach across time and space.
For more information, go to https://37plays.co.uk
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