We received a huge amount of fantastic entries for the lockdown edition of Play Club 2020 in response to Shelagh Delaney’s Taste of Honey which has led to a longer than anticipated shortlisting process! Because of the high number and high quality of submissions, we’ve decided to select 2 plays from 2 incredible writers to have their short plays read at the Play Club: Selections event and they are…
1. Bulbs
by Corene Lemaitre
Corene trained as an actor at the Stella Adler Studio in New York. Her playwriting credits include pieces for the Traverse Theatre and the Forest Fringe in Edinburgh. She is currently at work on her second full-length script. Other writing includes a novel, April Rising (HarperCollins UK), short fiction and articles. She has studied with playwright Zinnie Harris and BBC radio drama producer David Ian Neville.
2. The Gyal is Mama of the Ma
by Sam Palmyra
In a previous life I had some success writing, but ill health a few years ago focused my mind on what I really wanted to do – write for theatre. So, that’s what I’ve been doing, without any success – until now. The explosive intensity of mother/daughter bonds awes and inspires me, hence this short piece, which may have some basis in the dynamics (if not the reality) of the relationships of certain persons close to me.
Thank you to everyone who submitted for our special lockdown edition of Play Club 2020. We’ve just recently announced the second play we’re looking at for LPW members to write in response to which is…
Lungs by Duncan Macmillan
Winner of the Best Play of 2013 Award (Off West End Awards), Lungs is a modern play dealing with themes of family, adulthood and growing up in this generation and society today. Duncan Macmillan’s piece revolves around two characters and charts their relationship in a fragmented style; leaving an audience to fill the gaps in between and play catch-up throughout. The play debuted in 2011 at the Studio Theatre in 2011, whilst also holding it’s UK premiere in the same month in a production directed by Richard Wilson. Lungs was most recently revived for the stage at the Old Vic in London with Claire Foy and Matt Smith cast as W and M respectively.
You can get a copy of the play from Amazon for £8, and there are also cheaper versions online by searching “Lungs Script”.
Submissions
We challenge you to write a 10 page play (12 font size, please!) in direct response to what you’ve read.
Our submission window in response to Lungs will be open from
Monday 11th May – Sunday 31st May
(So please don’t send us scripts before then)
We’ll accept submissions from LPW members only, so if you’re not one yet but are wanting to submit – what’re you waiting for? It costs less than a cup of coffee a month and you get exclusive access to workshops, events and projects from us!
Details of how to sign up for membership can be found here.
A blog post and email will be sent your way once the window is open with full details of how to submit, but until then, happy reading for this month, and don’t forget to join the Facebook group discussion!
How to sign up
Play submissions for this project are exclusively for our members (you can sign up for less than 4 quid though and you’ll be helping to support the next generation of playwrights if you do!)
You’re also more than welcome to just read the plays and join in some discussion with us about them on the members Facebook group! We’ll open up a discussion forum on there at the same time we open for submissions, so do feel free to just read along with us if you’d prefer.
If you’re not a member yet, sign up now and follow the link as above.
Image source: Oberon Books – Image from Playtext of Lungs