CityLife

Brenda launches Bruntwood competition

THE Royal Exchange Theatre has launched the second Bruntwood Playwriting Competition.

The competition - now regarded as the country's foremost arena for discovering and celebrating new writing talent for the theatre - is backed by Manchester-based property company Bruntwood and open to writers of all experience aged 18 and over from throughout the UK and Ireland.

Originally launched in 2005, the inaugural competition attracted nearly 2,000 entries and saw the top three winning entries, including Ben Musgrave's Pretend You Have Big Buildings, Monster by Duncan Macmillan, and The Cracks In My Skin by Phil Porter, all receive full productions at the Royal Exchange as well as major cash prizes.

Winning writers in the second competition will be rewarded with a share in the £35,000 prize fund and have their work considered for production by the Royal Exchange. In addition, leading UK independent theatre publishers, Nick Hern Books, will publish winning plays that receive a production at the Exchange.

The judging panel will be chaired by actor and director Richard Wilson and will include actress Brenda Blethyn, actor Michael Sheen, film director Roger Michell, playwright Roy Williams, Royal Exchange artistic director Greg Hersov and chairman of Bruntwood Michael Oglesby.

Brenda (pictured), who's currently in rehearsals for Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, opening at the Exchange in April, was at the launch and visibly excited to be on the judging panel.

"To tell you the truth, having said I was going to be a judge last year, then work came up and I was thinking a bit like 'oh no, I've got all these scripts to read,'" she laughs. "From the outside it seemed like a bit of an ordeal but once I started I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a pleasure, not an ordeal at all.

"This is the only big competition of its sort and new writing is so vital yet doesn't get enough support," she emphasises. "I think some theatres seem to have the attitude of `what's wrong with the plays we've got?' That's like saying why should I read a book when I've read one before.

Development

"I've been working with a few writers who have plays in development and two of them are particularly wonderful but some people just don't have the imagination to see that potential unless they actually see it performed on stage."

What did she look for as a judge in the first Bruntwood competition and what will she be looking for this time?

"What's interesting is that you know nothing about the playwright, so the play has to stand on its own merit. It has to be something that absolutely keeps your attention throughout, that takes you on a journey. If it's a path you've haven't been down before, that's always interesting.

"If it makes you see something in a different light, or might even make you change your mind, that's always good."

"Monster, which I loved, obviously came from a very, very skilled playwright. Pretend You Have Big Buildings, which was the winning play, I absolutely loved because it tackled so many things. It was so entertaining and funny and had huge ambition."

So might she ever have a go at writing something herself for the stage? "To write a play is not a skill I'm capable of, although, you never know, I might surprise myself."

Prospective applicants can receive more information and an application pack from the website: writeaplay.co.uk. The entry deadline is June 13 with the winners announced in October.

The Bruntwood Playwriting Competition is open to all UK writers aged 18 and over. Winners will be rewarded with a share in the £35,000 prize fund and have their work considered for production by the Royal Exchange. For more information and an application pack log on to writeaplay.co.uk. Deadline for entries is June 13 and the winner will be announced in October.