International Playwriting Festival

The International Playwriting Festival was founded in 1986 by Steve Gooch and Ted Craig and is hosted by the new playwriting theatre, Warehouse Theatre, South London.^[1] It is held in two parts: the first is a competition with entries accepted from all over the world, which are judged by a panel of distinguished theatre practitioners. The second is a showcase of the selected plays at the Warehouse Theatre each November.

The IPF has two international partners - Extra Candoni , an association of seven theatre companies across Italy, and Theatro Ena, Nicosia representing Greek new writing. There are also contributions of the best new writing from the Warehouse Writers Workshop and from students from the BRIT School - the Performing Arts and Technology School. Writing about the IPF, The Times said: "Doing playwrights and the theatre at large a fine service."

Writers discovered by the IPF include:

• Mark Norfolk - His debut play, Knock Down Ginger was produced at the Warehouse Theatre in June 2002 (the education project attached to the play was nominated for the Arts Council England’s Eclipse award for combating racism through theatre). Knock Down Ginger was also showcased in Urbino, Italy the same year. His second play Wrong Place was produced by the Soho Theatre in October 2003.
• Maggie Neville – The Shagaround was premièred at the Premio Candoni Arta Terme 2001 and co-produced by the Warehouse Theatre Company and the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton playing at the Nuffield Theatre, Ashcroft Theatre, Soho Theatre and Brighton Theatre Royal.
• Roumen Shomov – The Dove was premièred at the Warehouse Theatre April 2000 and was also showcased at the Premio Candoni Arta Terme in the same year. It went on to be produced in Bulgaria at The State Theatre, Yambol and State Satirical Theatre, Sofia.
• Dominic McHale – The Resurrectionists was co-produced by the Bolton Octagon Theatre and the Warehouse Theatre in 1998.
• Richard Vincent – Real Estate was produced in Italy by Il Centro per la Drammaturgia Contemporanea ‘H’ December 1999, Quartieri dell’Arte and Festival delle Ville Tuscolane July 2001 and Teatro Colosseo December 2001 and has since been developed as a screenplay. Skin Deep was produced at the Warehouse Theatre May 2002. He has since written for the BBC’s Casualty and several screenplays for the Film Council
• Kevin Hood (Silent Witness TV series and the film Becoming Jane).
• Guy Jenkin (Drop The Dead Donkey)
• Peter Moffat (North Square & Cambridge Spies)

The Festival's patrons are Thelma Holt CBE and Harold Pinter CBE. Its producers are Evita Bier and Ted Craig and the administrator is Rose Marie Vernon.

References