One of the region’s largest producers of theatre, Liverpool’s Royal Court has a focus on new writing.
The theatre began producing shows in 2006, and quite quickly developed its own house style. In the early years the programming was a mix of established and commissioned plays but since 2017 all of our work has been written for the Royal Court. That is 100 percent new writing on the main stage for more than five years!
As well as our main house works, the 150 seat Studio space is a great place to develop new plays and we commission three new pieces each year.
We are committed to supporting the development of new works and new writers whether for the Royal Court audience or not. With this in mind we have developed the following writing programmes. As access is an important part of the way we work, all of these initiatives are free to access except for the entry fee for the Hopew Playwriting Prize (which covers the administration costs) .
Find out more about our new writing programmes here:
Stage Write Nights
Our bi-monthly script in hand readings of new works. Each evening excerpts of several pieces are chosen to be performed by professional actors, working with a professional director.
Stage Write Playwright Development Programme
The annual course that is free for writers. The selected participants attend fortnightly sessions for nine months and finish the course with a completed full-length script.
Commissioning
If you are a professional writer and have a script or an idea that you think would work for the Royal Court and you would like to discuss it with us, this is the place for you.
Word Nerds
Our young writers group that has been developed by our Youth Theatre members. Free to all.
The Liverpool Hope University Playwriting Prize
The biennial competition to find the best comedy play in the country. A £10,000 prize for the winner.