The Royal Shakespeare Company is teaming up with Blackpool Grand, Northern Stage in Newcastle, Hull Truck, York Theatre Royal and Bradford Alhambra to ask northern writers of all ages: ”Do you have something to say?”
The northern theatres will be joined by seven from the rest of England in the new RSC 37 Plays initiative – one of the most ambitious writing and creative projects ever created, to celebrate next year’s 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio.
Inspired Shakespeare's works, 37 Plays will bring together everything from five-act plays to short-form monologues, plays on stage, on the streets or in schools, and new and emerging formats. The aim is to explore who we are as a society and what the future of dramatic writing might look like.
All ages are invited to submit works, whether established, emerging or first-time writers. Submissions will be read, long-listed, then shortlisted by regional and national panels. The final 37 plays will be collated and published.
More information will be released throughout this year, culminating in a festival next year.
The RSC's acting artistic director, Erica Whyman, said: “Now more than ever there are stories to say who we think we are and what we might become.
"As a nation we have a lot to say, and with 37 Plays we have the opportunity to bring those stories to the surface and unearth new voices for different platforms."
Submissions will open on January 1, 2023 and close a month later. The chosen plays will be announced in April 2023 and performed script-in-hand and online that autumn. Anyone living in the UK may enter and there is no entry fee.
Submitted plays will be read by a panel selected by the regional theatres.
Find out more here