New Writing
The Theatre Royal Stratford East has a strong tradition of developing new plays and musicals, and encouraging new voices for the stage.
New Writing - Past and Present
Ever since Joan Littlewood brought her Theatre Workshop company to the theatre in 1953 the Theatre Royal's stage has depicted characters, voices and communities often ignored by other theatres and the mainstream media. Theatre Royal Stratford East is situated in one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in London, and our stage reflects that richness of experience and talent.
Amongst the now legendary plays and writers to have been developed by Joan Littlewood from 1953 to 1975 are:
'A Taste Of Honey' (1958) by Shelagh Delaney.
'The Quare Fellow' (1956) and 'The Hostage' (1958) by Brendan Behan.
'Fings Aint What They Used T'be' (1959) by Frank Norman / Lionel Bart.
'Oh, What A Lovely War' (1963) by Joan Littlewood with Theatre Workshop.
From 1979 to 2004, led by Artistic Director Philip Hedley, Theatre Royal Stratford East maintained this commitment to reflecting the experiences and histories of local audience, particularly Black and Asian peopl, in plays such as:
'Scrape Off The Black' by Tunde Ikoli
'Black Poppies' depicting the experiences of Black servicemen in the Second World War.
'Moti Roti Puttli Chunni' (in co-production with Moti Roti), a bollywood story.
'Five Guys Named Moe', a musical based on the music of Louis Jordan, which transferred to the West End and Broadway.
'The Invisible Man', 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Zorro' by Ken Hill.
'The Big Life' by Paul Sirett and Pail Joseph - which later became the first Black British musical in the West End.
Since 2004, Kerry Michael has continued this commitment to creating new work by new voices, with productions including:
'Battle of Green Lanes' by Cosh Omar
'Bashment' by Rikki Beadle Blair
'Gladiator Games' by Tanika Gupta
Boy Blue Entertainment's 'Pied Piper' by Ultz, Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy and Michael 'MikeyJ' Asante
'The Harder They Come' based on the film of the same name produced and directed by Perry Henzell, co-written with Trevor Rhone, production design by Sally Henzell. This stage production was written by Perry Henzell.
'Come Dancing' Story by Ray Davies. Book by Ray Davies and Paul Sirett. Music by Ray Davies.
Martina Cole's 'Two Women', adapted by Patrick Prior
'Reasons to be Cheerful' by Paul Sirett, songs by Ian Dury
'Britain's Got Bhangra' Conceived by Pravesh Kumar, lyrics by Dougal Irvine, music by Sumeet Chopra.
and continuing the tradition of uniquely Stratford East pantomimes, including the Olivier Award-nominated Cinderella.
Policy for Unsolicited Material
We are committed to working with artists whose work expresses the aspirations and concerns of our diverse community on a local, national and international level.
To help achieve this, we have decided to focus our resources and reduce our administration costs. Therefore we no longer send out personal replies or return scripts, photos or CVs etc.(with or without SAEs). The savings we make will allow us to employ more actors, directors, writers and artists across the year.
Please send submissions to: Karen Fisher, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Gerry Raffles Square, London, E15 1BN.
If your submission is of interest to us we will be in touch with you in due course. If you have not heard from us within 3 months you can assume that we were unable to work with you at this time.
