How would you like to see your work performed on stage by professional actors from the Northern Shakespeare Playhouse?

Read the information below and if you like the sound of it visit the website to find out more. Email Miss Douglas if you would like any help and support with your idea.

This is an exciting new playwriting competition, giving children and young people across the UK the opportunity to see their ideas come to life on stage.

The competition is open to all children and young people aged between 7 and 16 years old. It opens for entries at 7pm on Thursday 25th June 2020. The deadline for entering the competition is just before midnight on Monday 31st August 2020.

All you need to enter is an idea for a play, a short description of up to four of the main characters and the first few opening lines. You’ll also need to tell us what having the opportunity to write your play and have it performed on stage would mean to you.

What is the prize?

From the ideas submitted, three finalists from each of the three categories will be chosen and announced on The One Show during autumn 2020. They will then have the opportunity to develop their ideas with professionals and write their final play.

A winner will be selected from each category based on their final play. Winners will be announced on The One Show in early 2021 and an excerpt from their play will be shown on the programme. The final three winners will receive a special award and have their play performed at The Shakespeare North Playhouse when it opens in 2022.

What do you need to do in order to enter?

Tell us about your idea for a play in no more than 300 words.

What is the theme of the play? The following themes might all serve as inspiration: LOVE, HATE, FAMILY, POWER, FRIENDSHIP, MONEY, FAME, COMEDY, GOOD VS BAD, COURAGE and HEROISM or you could choose your own theme.

What is the play about and what is going to happen? Is it an adventure with pirates or spaceships? Is it all about a particular fictional family or group of friends? Is it about the world or community around us? Could it be a love story? The list is endless…

Does your play have a beginning, middle and end? Think about where and when your play is taking place. Is it set in the future or the past? What will we see in the location you've chosen? Could it be set in more than one place?

Have you described all the key moments of the whole story or plot? (Not necessarily in the order outlined above).

List the main characters (no more than 4) with a short description (30 words max) for each.

What sort of people are they - are they funny, kind, serious, happy or sad, boring? Do they have more than one side to their personality? We want to know what they are like.

Think about how they look, how they sound. Are they young or old?

Write the suggested opening lines of the play (no more than 5).

Think about how your play starts. What do the characters say? And what does it tell us about the story.

Will they grab the audience’s attention when they are performed?

Tell us in no more than 200 words what having the opportunity to write your play and have it performed on stage would mean to you. This will be considered alongside your idea.