Rose Theatre Kingston today announces a week-long New Writing Festival to take place from 9–13 September. The festival will feature rehearsed readings of three new plays selected following an open submission, which will be developed and directed by the inaugural Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow Fay Lomas. Lomas later this season will be directing Suzy Gill’s Out of the Dark at Rose Theatre Kingston. The festival will also feature arts engagement workshops for young people focused on new writing.
Early career writers are invited to submit a full-length play to be performed by a cast of up to five actors. Lomas will shortlist ten scripts, with each shortlisted writer receiving a personalised feedback session. Three plays will then be chosen, developed, and performed by professional actors as rehearsed readings for a public audience. Following each play, a debrief session will consider future development for the piece.
As part of the festival, the Rose is running Introduction to Playwrighting workshops for young people, designed both to spark ideas for characters and themes for a play, and to provide certain tools around story, plot and dialogue. Through these workshops, the Rose seeks to encourage and empower young people from a wide variety of backgrounds to tell their own stories, and to think about playwriting as a medium for expression.
Fay Lomas today said “New writing really is the lifeblood of theatre, and its future —and so it's both exciting and important to nurture and promote the fresh voices of emerging playwrights with the New Writing Festival. I am excited to read through all the applications and very much looking forward to welcoming applicants to the Rose this autumn."
To submit a play for consideration, early career writers should send their script to NWF@rosetheatrekingston.org by 10am on Monday 19 August; the window for submission is open from 4pm today, Friday 9 August. Please include your contact details, including a phone number. Only one script can be submitted per person. The play must not have been professionally performed or be currently programmed at another theatre. The running time of the play should be no longer than 90 minutes, and should be suitable for performance by up to five performers.
Fay Lomas is Rose Theatre Kingston’s inaugural Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow. Her directing credits include the forthcoming Out of the Dark (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Crucible (Royal & Derngate Northampton Community Company), The Winter’s Tale (St Peter’s Church, Northampton), Bérénice (The Space) and Blood Wedding (The Bread and Roses). In addition, she has directed new, short plays at Arcola Theatre, Theatre503 and Southwark Playhouse. As an assistant director her credits include The Model Apartment (Ustinov Studio), Macbeth (National Theatre/UK tour), Trouble in Mind (Print Room), Death of a Salesman (Royal & Derngate Northampton/UK tour), Great Expectations (Royal & Derngate Northampton), Annie Get Your Gun (Sheffield Theatres) and Half Life (Theatre Royal Bath).
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Rose Theatre Kingston
Founded by Sir Peter Hall and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London’s Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in South West London.
Since opening in 2008, the Rose has collaborated with a range of directors, playwrights and producing partners to create vibrant, engaging and inspiring productions. Recent Rose productions include: the critically acclaimed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which is now playing in the West End following a UK tour; the first stage adaptation and world première of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend adapted by April De Angelis and directed by Melly Still which transfers to the National Theatre this autumn; Olivier and Evening Standard award-winning Stones in his Pockets, presented by Rose Theatre Kingston and Theatre Royal Bath Productions; the world première of Hogarth’s Progress by BAFTA Award-winning playwright Nick Dear; Zach Helm's hard-hitting play Good Canary directed by John Malkovich; and Peter Hall and John Barton’s adaptation of The Wars of the Roses directed by Trevor Nunn.
With over 150,000 visitors a year, the Rose enjoys artistic and critical acclaim from its own productions and co-productions as well as from hosting the work of renowned theatre companies including Headlong, Bristol Old Vic, English Touring Theatre, Curve Leicester, Nuffield Southampton and Royal & Derngate Northampton. With an auditorium that lends itself to both intimate and epic scale productions, the Rose has established itself as one of the most exciting theatres in the UK.
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