The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Norwich Theater and 11 other regional theaters have launched 37 Plays, an ambitious and groundbreaking new playwriting project open to anyone from anywhere in the UK.
37 Plays seeks to capture and write the stories of our nation.
It is open to children, young people and adults, including established, emerging and beginning writers.
Although this is a nationwide search, residents of Norfolk will be supported by Norwich Theater with playwriting advice and prompts to those writing a play throughout this year.
Submissions for 37 pieces will open on January 1 and end on January 31, 2023.
Submitted plays will be read by a national jury selected by the CBC’s network of regional theatres.
The 37 chosen plays will be announced in April 2023 and will be performed hand-scripted across the UK and online in Autumn 2023.
Sam Patel, Head of Creative Engagement at Norwich Theatre, said: “This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to share their creativity with the potential to bring their play to life. The Norwich Theater will work closely with the communities of Norfolk to hear and share their untold stories and experiences.”
Erica Whyman, RSC Acting Artistic Director, said: “37 Plays represents the most ambitious public writing project in the history of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
“After the past two years, we all have a story to tell, and what better way to bring those stories to life than to write them for a performance.
“Working very closely with our resilient partner theaters across the country, we will strive to encourage everyone to find their voice.
“Shakespeare offers us an incredible array of plots and characters, and with these 37 plays, I have no doubt that we will discover an equally rich kaleidoscope of stories; comedies, tragedies, untold stories, from the fantastical to the surprisingly familiar, we We’re going to celebrate new voices for different dramatic platforms, whether on our stages, on our streets, in schools, online, or in new places and spaces we haven’t explored yet.”
Entry to 37 Plays is open to anyone in the UK who wishes to submit a play with the simple aim of creating a play that can make people laugh, smile, cry or think.
The project will explore who we are as a society and inspire a conversation about what the future of playwriting might look like, on and off our stages.
Game submissions are divided into three age categories ranging up to 11, 12 to 17, and 18+.
Plays by multiple authors may name a main author or the average age of the writers.
Submissions should be primarily written in English or British Sign Language, with a translation provided for any text, not in English.
Entries must not be less than one A4 page and cannot exceed one hundred A4 pages.
Plays must be a complete original story, not a sample of a story or an adaptation of a story. Pieces submitted must not have been professionally produced or commissioned at the time of submission.
For Makaton users, exhibits may be submitted in print with an accompanying written English translation. The RSC welcomes BSL entries and does not require a translation to be provided.
All 37 selected pieces will be awarded a publication, performance and/or broadcast stamp.
Any submission subsequently ordered for production will be subject to the usual ordering processes approved by the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain.
Full details of entry terms and conditions and associated FAQs can be accessed via 37plays.co.uk
For more information visit here
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates world-class theatre, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and commissioning an exceptionally wide range of original works from contemporary writers.
Their aim is to ensure that Shakespeare is for everyone, and they do this by unleashing the power of his plays and live performances, across the UK and around the world.