Please read all of this before submitting.
Submission Deadline - 7th April
Basically, write whatever you want to write! Be as bold and as bonkers, or as simple and as delicate as you like. We are looking to represent as broad a range of styles, genres and voices as we can. Thrill us with your words.
Your piece can be an extract from a longer play or a stand-alone short based on an idea which you would want to develop into a full-length play.
All writers need to live in or come from North West England, though the plays do not have to be set there.
Each play can have two, three or four actors. Please make sure every character is someone the actors would be keen to play. Do not write incidental characters with little to do, it is difficult and unfair to cast actors in inconsequential roles.
Be aware of the collaborative nature of Off Cut. It may be that not one word of your work will be altered, but please see the rehearsal process as an opportunity to discover new ideas and nuances that you hadn’t even thought of. Don’t worry, we will always protect the integrity of your work, we would just ask you to be open to the idea that your play will be all the richer for the rehearsal experience.
You will not be able to make specific requests for directors and actors. They will be assigned by the Off Cut and 53Two teams, after a series of meetings, workshops and auditions.
Your play must not have been performed at other festivals, new writing showcases or similar. Nor can it have been made into a film.
Each writer can submit up to three plays, but only one would make the festival.
We are a very strict on each play’s running time. No play will be allowed more that 15 minutes on stage. We ask that all submissions include no more than 12 pages of script, not including cover pages. There needs to be two line spaces between each characters lines. Use an easy-to-read font with a size no less than 12 point.
Please note that will not read your play if:
It is a monologue
It needs more than four actors
The script itself is longer than 12 pages and/or is not in the format described above
It has been performed in front of an audience before
It is a screenplay
Save your work as a pdf and name you file with the play's title and your own name.
Some of this may seem a little restrictive. We only run a tight ship because we have to: there is a lot to manage. However, Off Cut has always been about the joy of the making theatre together, and a great many careers, working relationships and friendships have been forged over the years. And we want you to be part of that.