Trinity College London launched the International Playwriting Competition in 2010 as a way of generating new material for young performers and young audiences and is now giving the winners of the 2010 and 2011 competitions the opportunity to have their plays come to life at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Normal, written by Paul Wallis who won the 2010 competition in the category Plays for Teenage Audiences, will be performed by young actors from the Perth Youth Theatre. It is a zany, comical play with many twists and turns and is directed by Alasdair Hunter. Performances of Normal take place from 9– 11August at Paradise in Augustine’s.
Annie McCourt’s play Moth to the Flame, which won the 2011 competition in the same category, will be performed by young actors Katurah Morrish from Group 64 of the Putney Arts Theatre and Joe Spence from the ESTA Theatre School. Directed by Tom Foster, this story of first love soon takes a much darker turn. Watch Moth to the Flame from 6th-8th August at Paradise in St Augustine’s and Paradise in the Vault. To book tickets for both plays visit www.trinitycollege.co.uk/fringe
As John Gardyne, Head of Drama and Performance at Trinity, explains,” We launched the International Playwriting Competition as there have been lots of great new books for young people but great new plays for young performers have been rather thin on the ground. Children have a huge capacity for imagination and creation but when it comes to harnessing these talents on the stage, there is little new material for teachers to choose from.”
Entries for the 2012 International Playwriting Competition are now open and anyone, of any age, anywhere in the world can enter. The deadline for entry is 7 September 2012 and winners will see their play staged at Trinity’s International Festival of Playwriting and Performance at the Unicorn Theatre, London, in January 2013.
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