Stage Plays

David Walters presenting me with NDFA award for Thank You for Protesting (I'm the one in the jacket that needs an iron).  

I'm a published playwright who has written fourteen plays (two more in the works) in total and have won several writing awards, including the National Drama Festival Association’s best unpublished play award for my script Thank You For Protesting in 2015. My plays have been performed all over the UK, in the United States, and Australia. 

I have four plays published with Stagescripts and another with Lazy Bee Scripts. 

North London armature dramatics group Saint Monica's Players (SMP) have been a great outlet for me in the past and have been putting on my one act plays since 2014. They are a very talented bunch of actors, musicians, stage managers, costume designers and everything theatre. I am extremely grateful to them. 

I currently have a close working relationship with Limitless Academy of Performing Arts. In March 2020 they performed my play Unlucky For Some which went on to win a number of awards. I have now written four plays for them and two short films. My most recent one act play with them Brook For Nothing has won various awards at UK drama festivals, including winning the Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival and the Vi Gostling New Writing Award for best unpublished play in March 2022.

During Lockdown I wrote four one act plays and one full length and am currently in the process of trying to get these picked up by theatre groups.

Below is current collection of stage work and performance history.

Plays still in the submission stage at various theatre companies: 

One Act Plays = Tactical Foul, Whiskey Rosé.

Full length plays = Ten Dead Dogs, Crowd Work, Resident Alliance.

Works in progress (working titles) =  Soulbearers, Standard Herald Gazette. 

One Available Vacancy

Date: 2022
Run time: 60 min

Me, actor Carla Segel, and director James Clarke with our awards at the Welwyn Drama Festival 2022

Awards:

★ Second Place - Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2022

★ Best Actress - Carla Segel as Sue - Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2022
★ Best Actor - John Stivey as Hunt - Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2022

Performances by Saint Monica's Players
> Welwyn Garden City Drama Festival - May 2022

Synopsis: Two candidates compete for an extremely rare opportunity – a desk job offering fixed hours and holiday pay. However, they soon come to the realisation that they’re both horribly out of their depth but persist in attempting to prove they’re worthy of the position.

Welwyn Drama Festival May 2022 performance note: An abridged version of the play was performed at the festival. The runtime was brought down to 25 minutes.  

The original play was written to be 60 minutes. The plan was this to be a standalone play for entry into pub theatres. Then Covid happened. Although only 60 minutes, the play is in two acts. Director James Clarke asked to bring act one for Saint Monica's Players' entry into the Welwyn Drama Festival 2022. He did a fantastic job, with the play coming 2nd overall and winning both best male and female acting awards.  

Brook For Nothing

Date: 2022
Run time: 50 min

Brook For Nothing & Limitless Academy of Performing Arts winning the WGC Youth Drama Festival in March 2022

Awards:

★ NDFA National Play Award - Best Youth Play - Jul 2022

★ 1st Place Youth Cup - Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2022
★ 2nd Place Festival Award - Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre Drama Festival - Mar 2022

★ Best Supporting Performance - Roisin Oshea (as Scorpion Mage and various roles) - Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre Drama Festival - Mar 2022

★ Best Youth Actor - Will Muir (as Brook) - Totten Festival of Drama - Mar 2022
★ Vi Gostling New Writing Award

Performances by Limitless Academy of Performing Arts:
> Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2022

> Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre Drama Festival - Mar 2022

> Totten Festival of Drama - Mar 2022

> Crow's Nest Theatre - May 2022

> NDFA Festival (Albany Theatre, Coventry) - Jul 2022

Synopsis: After moving into a bedsit with his mother, Brook meets two older teenage housemates who try to get him to take responsibility for himself. Brook is forced to listen to other's inexperienced life lessons as he tries to decide what his future holds.

Unlucky For Some

Date: 2019
Run time: 45 min

Unlucky For Some & Limitless Academy of Performing Arts in the Welwyn Hatfield Times Newspaper (18th Mar 2020). Read here.

Awards:

★ Runner-up Nero's Cup - Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2020
★ Technical Award Ball England Cup - Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2020
★ Medal of Individual Excellence Acting Award - Jess Heppelthwaite (as Young Ginger) Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2020

Performances:
> Welwyn Garden City Youth Drama Festival - Mar 2020 (performed by: Limitless Academy of Performing Arts)

Synopsis: On the day of her thirteenth birthday, Scarlett believes the time has come for her to relive the rebellious teenage years of her older sister. But when her sister unexpectedly shows up, Scarlett is surprised to see the person she's become.

An Order of Lunacy

Date: 2017
Run time: 45 min

Order of Lunacy in Manx Independent - 11th Oct 2018. Read here.

Awards:

★ Winner of Isle of Man TheatreFest One Act Play - Mar 2018

Performances:
> Grove Museum (promenade performance) - October 2018 (performed by: Stage Door Entertainment IOM)
> Isle of Man TheatreFest - October 2018 (performed by: Stage Door Entertainment IOM)

> Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2018 (performed by: Saint Monica's Players)

Synopsis: England, 1842 - three years before Lunacy Act reform bill. Two mad-doctors investigate a double case of female insanity at Wright Manor, but the cases are not as straightforward as they first seem.

Read more about the performance and production here.

An Order of Lunacy performance rights: Lazy Bee Scripts

Dead Offensive 

Date: 2017 

Run time: 15 min 

Script Submissions:
> Reboot: Shorts - December 2017
> Little Pieces of Gold - December 2017
> Dispatches - January 2018
> Arden School of Theatre Festival - April 2018

Synopsis: Four comedians wait to perform in a greenroom of a comedy club when news breaks that the Prime Minister has died. 

House Proud 

Director David Bowman collecting Best Lead Actor award on behalf of  John Stivey at the 2018 Welwyn Drama Festival awards ceremony

Date: 2017 

Run time: 35 min 

Awards: 

★ Isle of Man TheatreFest One Act Play Runner Up - Mar 2017
★ Best Lead Actor at Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2018
★ Nominated for Best Unpublished Play at Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2018
★ Fourth Place Prize for the NDFA Derek Jacobi Playwriting Award - April 2019

Performances:
> Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2018 (Winner: Best Actor) (performed by: Saint Monica's Players)

Synopsis: Tenants become pitted against each other as a row breaks out over what should be acceptable in a house in modern day Britain. Comedy about the Leave and Remain Brexit campaigns.

House Proud performance rights: Stagescripts

Rally Cry 

Rehearsal of Rally Cry by Saint Monica's Players, 2017 

Date: 2017 

Run time: 30 min 

Performances:
> Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2017 (performed by: Saint Monica's Players)

Synopsis: After inciting the bloody overthrow of a headmaster, the new headmistress of a secondary school has to negotiate the promises she made to the teachers who helped her. But when the corpse of the previous head starts to talk, she soon realises that she is now a player in a cruel game of one-upmanship. 

Rally Cry performance rights: Stagescripts

The Headmaster and the Anarchist 

Date: 2017

Run time: 15 min 

Script submissions:
> Dare to Dream (Arcola Theatre) - January 2017

Synopsis: A Headmaster is left to reflect on his career after his Lifetime Dedication award speech is crashed by a rebellious pupil he expelled. 

Career Day 

Me with cast and director after our win at the Welwyn Drama Festival

Date: 2016 

Run time: 25 min 

Awards: 

★ Vi Gostling New Writing Award 

★ Derrick Baldock Cup for Best Unpublished Play 

Performances:
> Welwyn Drama Festival - May 2016 (performed by: Saint Monica's Players)
> Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre - March 2016 (performed by: Saint Monica's Players)

Synopsis: What should have been straightforward careers advice for four North London school boys descends into comedic anarchy when one pupil has no plans for the future.

Career Day performance rights: Stagescripts

Thank You for Protesting 

Plockton Amateur Dramatic Society performance of Thank You For Protesting at the SCDA Finals. Photo credit: Walter Hampson 

Date: 2015 

Run time: 20 min 

Awards: 

★ Vi Gostling New Writing Award 

★ NDFA George Taylor Memorial Playwriting Award
★ SCDA Scottish Finals

Performances:
> Pyrmont Community Centre (Sydney, Australia) - December 2019
> Warehouse Theatre, Somerset - February 2019
> East Kilbride Village Theatre - April 2018
> Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas, USA) - October 2017
> Coleshill Drama Group - July 2017
> British All Winners Drama Festival - August 2016
> Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre - March 2015

Synopsis: When a local government worker is tasked with replacing 'a thing’ on a street with another ‘thing', a nearby resident takes it upon herself to put a stop to it in a civilised, law-abiding and dignified manner. She soon gets in over her head though, when a younger, more eager protester, steps in with a more direct approach. 

All three are then caught up in a farce of protesting rights and housing policy when the worker’s boss shows up and starts flexing her paper-pushing, administrative, might. 

Thank You For Protesting performance rights: Stagescripts