We currently don’t have a full-time literary manager so consequently we are offering two slots a year for playwrights to submit their scripts.
You can send us a script anytime in January or July but we can only accept one script per writer per year.
We are currently looking for:
- New, original plays
- State of the Nation plays tackling the big issues of the day
- Plays with a focus on local, regional stories (feel free to ask for suggestions)
- Plays which are brave and theatrically daring
- Razor-sharp, modern reworkings of the classics
- Adaptations of books / films (You must have the adaptation rights)
- Plays with female protagonists and 50% or more female characters
- Work for families and young people
- New musicals
To ensure we tell the most dynamic and varied stories, we are particularly keen to hear from writers who are underrepresented in this industry whether this be by class, disability, ethnicity, gender or sexuality.
We are not looking for:
- First drafts – as we do not have the capacity to accept resubmissions
- Proposals or incomplete scripts
- Plays that have already been produced
Ready to submit?
Please email your script to us at [email protected]
Once you’ve emailed us your script, please use click ‘Script Submission Form’ below and complete the form.
We cannot read scripts without the information provided on this form.
Script Submission FormWhat happens next?
You will receive an email acknowledging we have received your script.
We will contact you within six months to let you know if we are able (Hurrah!) or unable (Darn it!) to offer you a place on our script development programme.
Try and resist the urge to chivvy us during those six months. Unfortunately we don’t have the personnel to give specific feedback or enter into any correspondence about your play should it not be selected.
As part of our script development programme we will invite you to participate in some of the following ways:
- Receive feedback on the story, characters and structure
- Stage 10 minutes of your script as part of one of our regular Mercury Scratch Nights
- Take part in a rehearsed reading of your script in the Studio
- Develop the script for full production
Finally…
You’ve written a script! You’re amazing. We know you put your heart and soul into your writing so whether you hear back from us or not, keep going! Ours is just one opinion. Get friends to read your work, send it to brilliant theatres/companies dedicated to new work like the Royal Court and Paines Plough. If you do a reading of your own invite us along, we’ll do our best to attend. But don’t give up!
We look forward to hearing from you.
