RSC theatre writing project in Staffordshire will tell the stories of the nation

An exciting new theatre writing initiative led by Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in partnership with eleven regional theatres, including the New Vic Theatre in North Staffordshire, has been announced. The major new project encourages people to write the stories of today and is open to anyone in the UK.

The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle Under Lyme in Staffordshire will work with local people of all ages throughout 2022 and into 2023, including 12 Staffordshire schools, to inspire them to tell their stories for submission to the project.

37 Plays is open to anybody of any age whether they be a first-time writer, an emerging or a professional playwright.

New Vic Youth Theatre members aged 13 to 19-years-old, as well as participants of the New Vic Education department’s regular adult groups and members of the public across Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme will be encouraged to take part.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2022, young people and adults will take part in play reading groups, with a focus on introducing them to great writing, before playwriting workshops are held in autumn.

Submissions to the 37 Plays project will open from 1 to 31 January 2023, with the 37 chosen plays announced in April 2023 and performed script-in-hand across the UK and online in autumn 2023, to coincide with the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio.

Local schools taking part through the New Vic include lead school Springhead Primary School in Talke Pits, Baldwins Gate C.E Primary School, Betley C.E Primary School, Dove Bank Primary School in Kidsgrove, Ellison Primary Academy in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Harpfield Primary Academy, Hempstalls Primary School, Parkside Primary School in Stafford, Seabridge Primary School, St Luke’s Primary C.E Primary School in Silverdale, Sutherland Primary Academy, and Thursfield Primary School.

The website 37plays.co.uk has now launched, with a podcast and resources providing practical tips on writing a play, curated by award-winning playwrights Mark Ravenhill and Juliet Gilkes-Romero.

Submitted plays will be read by a national panel selected by the RSC’s network of Associate Regional Theatres.

Erica Whyman, Acting Artistic Director of the RSC said: “37 Plays represents the most ambitious, public writing project in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s history. After these last two years, we all have a story to tell, and what better way to have those stories come to life than write them for performance.

Working very closely with our resilient partner theatres up and down the country we will set out to encourage everyone to find their voice.

Shakespeare offers us such an amazing array of plots and characters and with this 37 Plays I have no doubt we will unearth an equally rich kaleidoscope of stories; comedies, tragedies, untold histories, from the fantastical to the startlingly familiar, we will celebrate new voices for different dramatic platforms whether that’s on our stages, on our streets, in schools, online or in new locations and spaces we haven’t explored yet.

“As we look forward to 2023 and to the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio, we will celebrate this landmark moment in the company’s history with a remarkable new collection of plays that speak directly to our world today.”

37 Plays will be open for submissions nationwide from 1 to 31 January 2023. For more information visit 37plays.co.uk.