Chance of a lifetime for young playwrights

THIS Monday is the deadline for entries to Banbury Banter’s 2021 Young Playwrights’ programme. For aspiring scriptwriters aged 16-25 living in – or originally from – Dumfries and Galloway, then it is the opportunity of a lifetime. Successful applicants to the programme will receive mentorship and guidance from accomplished playwrights, who will work with the young writers to each develop a final piece to be performed by professional actors. The 12 month course includes regular workshops led by top UK writers and artistic directors, theatre trips, script read-throughs and a range of other activities designed to give the youngsters all the literary tools they’ll need to launch a career in the industry. One of the programme’s mentors this year is the Dumfries-born playwright Alan Gordon, who been writing for the stage since 2011. Alan has written extensively for Edinburgh-based youth theatre, Strange Town, and for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Twa Dugs Theatre and Thrive Theatre. He has been a recipient of a Playwrights’ Studio Scotland New Playwrights Award and worked as a Breakthrough Writer for National Theatre of Scotland. Participants of the 2020 programme hailed last year as a success despite it largely being delivered over Zoom. Applicants should apply by this Monday, March 15, and are required to submit an application form alongside answers to the following questions:

• If we asked you to write a play today, what would your play be about?
• Write us a paragraph telling us about this play
• Now can you write us a scene from this play? It should be no longer than a page in length.