‘Theatre Uncut started as a very responsive idea,’ say Hannah Price and Emma Callander, co-artistic directors of the Arts Council England-funded group. Theatre Uncut prides itself on doing things a little differently: political playwriting is its lifeblood, which is so deeply ingrained that when Price founded the company in 2011, she did so as a response to the coalition government's cuts to arts funding. Since then, it has been commissioning leading and emerging writers to create plays which, according to the Theatre Uncut website, ‘tackle political and social issues’.
The current group of plays have been aptly named the Power Plays, and have been written by women. Available to download rights-free, these latest commissions have been written in response to the #MeToo movement and the increasingly politically-charged era. At the launch of the Power Plays in London's Young Vic, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan performs her play, A Coin In Somebody Else's Pocket. By turns eloquent and funny – and also aware of its own irony – A Coin is a tour de force of powerful writing, which challenges the very notion of being an ‘outspoken' Muslim woman. In it, Manzoor-Khan argues that she's not vocal all the time; sometimes she doesn't want to be, and other times she does. Does that then make her less of a feminist?
Of her experience of being approached by Theatre Uncut, Manzoor-Khan says: ‘I had never done anything like this before – Emma got in touch with me and I said, “No, no, I don't know what plays are all about, can't do that”. So I really value the support that has been a part of this and I value the way they're trying to make it accessible in more ways.’
Raising the point of the accessibility of Theatre Uncut's plays, Price and Callander say that A Coin has been downloaded and performed not only across the UK, but in Barcelona, Strasbourg, Budapest, India, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cairo, Japan, Istanbul, Perth, Ireland, Prague and Copenhagen. Other plays have been performed in places as far-flung as the Miasma US Air Force Base in Japan, and Mbabane, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) – which is incredible when we consider what power means to individuals as much as to the masses, and how political differences can be explored through theatre.
Announcing…
As well as celebrating the launch of the Power Plays, we are there for an announcement: the opening of the inaugural Theatre Uncut Political Playwriting Award. In partnership with the Young Vic, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff, this award is particularly exciting in that it gives new and talented writers the inimitable opportunity to have their work read by the artistic directors of the three partner theatres: Kwame Kwei-Armah, Orla O'Loughlin and Rachel O'Riorden.
Following three years of planning, the award opens for submissions this autumn and, according to Price and Callander, is ‘looking to find the next generation of political playwrights that explore big issues that affect our lives today’.
Price and Callander also stress that they are keen to discover not only new writers, but new writers from the widest possible demographic. ‘We're reading anonymously,’ they say, and Theatre Uncut encourages writers from any and every background – no matter their race, disability, sexuality, gender or class; Price and Callander add: ‘This playwriting award is for you.’
All submissions will be read, with the 30-strong longlist being read by Price and Callander. Price says: ‘We are delighted to say that the final ten will be read by the artistic directors of the Young Vic, the Traverse Theatre and the Sherman Theatre. It is fantastic and means that there are ten writers who are going to be seen by those great minds.'
Kwei-Armah expresses his enthusiasm for the award: ‘I love the idea of this, I love the idea of reading ten new writers that I might not have had the chance to.’ He adds that theatre is a means of saying something about our world: ‘This new political playwriting award by Theatre Uncut is a way for the next generation of playwrights to continue that tradition – and I can't wait to hear their voices.’
The award opens for submissions on 1 September and closes on 1 November. There is a prize of £9,500 for the winner, who will also have the opportunity to option their play with Theatre Uncut and the three theatre partners. For details and to apply, go to theatreuncut.com/award