script reads
Our process happens in four basic stages:
1. Set up
Once you get in touch with us, we ask you to email us your play.
We ask you a few simple questions, too – about the play, and about you as a writer. This is just to give us some context that'll be useful later in the process.
At this stage, we also want to know if you have any specific questions or concerns about the play that you'd like us to address.
2. Read
We read your play – on our own, in a quiet room.
3. Question
We make some notes on our experience of reading the play, thinking about what it seems to be saying and how clearly.
We consider things like:
Characterisation: arcs, conflict, dialogue, objectives, relationships
Form & Structure: language, pace, rhythm, theatricality
Narrative: contemporary social & political resonance, genre, plot, world
Then we look at the context you gave us at the beginning of the process, and let it inform a rigorously structured set of notes to form the basis of our meeting.
4. Discuss
We arrange a meeting to take place within a month of you sending us the play, usually via video call.*
This is where we can have a more detailed discussion about what you want for your play, and use it as a framework – along with the context you gave us in Stage One – for sharing our thoughts and questions with you.
Our key aim is to identify the spaces between your intentions for the play and how an audience might receive it, and then offer suggestions as to how it could be refined to bridge them.
Finally, we work with you to create a clear, practical strategy for moving forward – and, if you want, email you afterwards with a document summarising our discussion.
* If you would prefer a face-to-face meeting in London or Sheffield, please let us know.