Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival, M6 Theatre Company and Touchstones are working in partnership to launch a new playwriting competition for young people aged 14-25 who live in Rochdale Borough.
They want you to write a short play which tells a different story of Rochdale. Maybe it’s about an overheard conversation on a bus to Middleton, or an interesting character that lives at the end of your road, or a moment from the rich history of the town. They know how Rochdale is often portrayed in the media and they are looking for something which challenges that.
The winning writer will be mentored by award-winning playwright Nicola Schofield to develop their script into a 30 minute play.
Nicola is a regular contributing writer on DOCTORS for BBC One. Nicola’s first play MAYBE TOMORROW won the Write#2 Playwright competition – a forerunner to the Bruntwood Prize – at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in May 2004 and was performed in the Studio Theatre there in July of the same year, directed by Jo Combes. The play was also nominated for Best New Play at the M.E.N. Theatre Awards 2004.
The winner will have their play performed by professional actors; it will tour for one week to some of Rochdale’s High Schools and to venues including M6 Studio Theatre and Touchstones Studio Theatre during the 2018 Rochdale Literature and Ideas Festival in October.
Writers should submit the first 10 pages of the script and an outline of the rest of the plot (no more than one side of A4). Writers can only submit one script. It must be a word document formatted with a 12 point font. The play should be interesting and relevant to and suitable for young people in Year 7 and 8.
The play should be suitable to be performed by two actors (they can multi-role if it suits the style of your piece, please indicate this clearly in your submission) and have minimal props and set. The play needs to be easy to tour and fit into a school drama studio.
Your name should not appear anywhere on the script as the competition will be judged anonymously but only on the first cover page. A panel of industry professionals and young people will select the winning entry.
Schedule:
- Closing date for submissions Friday 6th July 2018 at 5pm
- Winner announced Thursday 12th July 2018
- First Draft Friday 10th August 2018
- Second Draft Monday 26th August 2018
- Final Draft Friday 7thSeptember 2018
How to apply: Please send submissions by e-mail to Rochdale.Litfest@rochdale.gov.uk subject heading: A Different story of Rochdale Competition.
Deadline: 6 July 2018
Source: BBC Writersroom