Young Writers Programme

The Royal Court Young Writers Programme offers year-round playwriting groups for writers aged 18 – 25 years old. It aims to find and develop young writers, giving them the tools to develop their writing and opportunities to meet and learn with and from other playwrights.

The support and skills that writers receive act as a crucial platform from which to launch their future careers; our alumni have had their plays performed in theatres across London, the UK and internationally.

Over 50% of our 2010 programme is written by graduates of a Royal Court playwriting group. Bola Agbaje, Laura Wade, DC Moore, Nick Grosso, Anya Reiss, Nick Payne and EV Crowe have all taken part in our writers groups. Other alumni include Lucy Prebble, whose play ENRON transferred to the West End in 2010; Polly Stenham, whose first play That Face won 3 awards in 2007; and Mike Bartlett, who has had three plays produced at the Royal Court, including Cock in December 2009.

The programme

The Young Writers Programme is a 12 week Introduction to Playwriting group which runs three times a year and is led by resident Writers Tutor, Leo Butler. Sessions take place one evening a week (7 – 9.30pm) at the Royal Court. This group is open to anyone aged 18-25 and costs £100 or £50 concessions.

Weekly workshops involve writing exercises, group discussion, reading plays, seeing plays as well as tips, tools and advice from the Writers Tutor and invited guest playwrights and directors. At the end of the 12 weeks, you will be offered detailed feedback on your play.

How to apply

To apply, please submit a play to us for the next script deadline. We will select the most promising writers to join the group. Before applying, please download and complete the submission form and read our submission guidelines, available on the left-hand side of this page.

There are three script deadlines per year: 1 March, 1 July and 1 December. The next deadline is 1 March 2011, for the Spring/Summer 2011 Group. PLEASE NOTE the 1 December 2010 deadline has been cancelled. However, the deadline for the 2011 Young Writers Festival is 14 December 2010. For more information, please see the Young Writers Festival page.

All information about the groups is provided here (including how to submit – please see Submission Guidelines on the left). If you have any further specific questions about the Young Writers Programme, please email studio@royalcourttheatre.com.