Young Writers Festival Shorts

The Young Writers Festival will include staged readings of ten 10 minute plays by 8-15 year olds.

This year, the Young Writers Festival was opened up to a younger age group, accepting submissions from ages 8 to 25 in order to uncover stories from the UK’s younger population. Supported by John Lyon’s Charity, the Royal Court worked with 75 young people from 18 schools delivering a six-week writing programme under the tutelage of writers debbie tucker green, EV Crowe and Nick Payne to create a fully-realised play that would be suitable for submission to the Young Writers Festival.

Shorts by writers aged 8-11 years old:
Journey to Food Paradise by Jose-Luis Aduino-Mejia
The Magic Wig by Isabelle Kennedy-Grimes
Cat or What? by Eva Kerslake-Blue
Hope Can Last by Lavinia Scoyni
Proud to be Geeky by Janine Coelho Gomes
The Flying Boy by Joseph Burke-Gaffney
London, We Have a Problem by Jack Franco

Shorts by writers aged 13-15 years old:
Calling At by Jessica Kelly
20 One Truths by Seren Williams
Then I Met You by Olivia Sewell Risley

Saturday Shorts will be directed by Charlotte Gwinner

Cast for Saturday Shorts: Pandora Colin, Natalie Dew, Imogen Doel, Nathaniel Martello-White, Ryan Sampson, Hugh Skinner.

Saturday Shorts will be performed in two separate events on 17 March:
10.30am-11.30am: seven short readings by writers aged 8-11 years
12pm – 1pm: three readings by writers aged 12-15 years

Rianna Mitchell-Henry’s play Reflection, written when she was 17, will have a full reading on 30 and 31 March.

Adult tickets £8 (per event)
Children (18s and under) £3 (per event)
Family ticket £20 for two adults and up to three children (discount will be automatically applied to your order)

Find out what else is taking place during the Young Writers Festival

The Young Writers Festival is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and is in partnership with the European Commission Representation in the UK, with additional support from the Dr. Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation.

The Young Writers Festival Development Phase has been supported by John Lyon’s Charity.