New Playwrights

The cynic in me wonders if they cheaper than more established writers? Is there a set fee for playrights?

New plays from new voices are important but the West End is a cruel market for such things.

Far better to cut your teeth in a less exposed arena where you can hone your craft without the additional pressure of intense commercial and critical scrutiny.

Even established writers have buckled under that pressure.

Build up your portfolio and experience at fringe and other venues and then make your way to the bigger spaces.

The recent BBC adaptation of The Pursuit of Love should serve as a warning. An actor decides to turn writer on a project and delivers a script that should have been rejected by the producers.

Similarly we have a major novelist (assisted by an actor with no writing credits) creating their first ever stage play and opening that in the West End. A very risky move.

New writing should be nurtured. But the West End is not the best environment for that. There will, of course, be exceptions, but on the whole, new writers benefit best in a less exposed and more supportive atmosphere.

A 'flop' in a fringe venue won't kill your career. A flop in the West End very likely will do long term harm.

I welcome new writing and I want to see more rediscovered stuff and I want to see classics too. Once this hoo-hah is over (if ever) the theatre world has a plethora of spaces to fit everyone in. The West End may not be the ideal place for every playwright to cut his teeth but it's good to see new talent there as well.

Ultimately if the writers can write good plays which attract audiences they will make it up the ladder. If not, no degree of hype, sponsorship, backing or help will foist something on an audience that doesn't want it. As punters each of us is individually insignificant but together... we ARE the theatre! No audience, no theatre.

Here's to a bright future for the theatre and especially to all those trying to make their way into it now.

The biggest issue, as always, is money. Flwabag became a phenomenon, but only after spending thousands to bring it to Edinburgh. These fees need to change.

It costs between £6k and £10k to bring a small fringe show or one-person show to Edinburgh Fringe. You have to pay a registration fee to the Fringe Festival itself which is a few hundred pounds. Being listed in the programme is an additional charge on top of that. Venue hire fees are ludicrously expensive. Then there’s transport and accommodation, marketing, public liability insurance, props, technical crew.

That’s for bare minimum, performers doing their own gig as DIY as possible, no one being paid, style shows.

Trying to present a professional-looking high quality production might necessitate hiring a professional director, producer, designer, hiring rehearsal space. That can double the budget. It’s very expensive.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23778487.amp