The Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers Festival, which has been launching the writing careers of the country’s best known playwrights since 1973 is set to take over the Jerwood Theatre upstairs at the Royal Court this week.
Running from 23 February until 14 April, the festival is set to be the biggest yet in its history. Back in the spring of last year, writers aged 25 and under, were asked to submit a full-length play with no restrictions or guidelines on content.
Over 300 plays were submitted and read by a team of 17 readers - made up of playwrights, directors, Royal Court staff and previous Young Writers Festival winners.
The culmination is of all this work is three week feast of productions which includes: two full productions of new plays, four staged readings, ten short plays and a series of free workshops, talks and late night events in the bar.
Alongside the free events programme, there is also a pay-what-you-like-night for both the performances of Goodbye to All That and Vera Vera Vera.
Goodbye to All That, by Luke Morris, looks at the enduring nature of love and asks if it’s ever too late to start again. Hayley Squires in Vera Vera Vera looks at violence, neglect and apathy in the wake of another young soldier’s death in Afghanistan.
The young people’s plays will be performed in Saturday Shorts on 17 March, with seven short plays from the eight-11 age group and three plays from 12-15 age group.
With a host of events and workshops at this year’s festival to include storytelling workshops for children with playwright Nick Payne, make sure you take a look at the full event information on the Royal Court website.
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