Writer Development

Writer Opportunities

Menagerie’s Writer Development work has intrinsically been linked to Hotbed and our production cycle. Our chief aim is to evolve relationships with writers and help new plays to emerge in the process.

Our Latest Opportunity: Hidden Voices

Menagerie Theatre are seeking three professional standard theatre productions/performances to be developed and shared as part of Hotbed Theatre Festival 2024 (19-21 July).

As a Hidden Voices supported production you will receive a grant towards your development and performance costs, along with bespoke artistic support from the Menagerie team.The artist/company these productions/performances are created and presented by must be from, or have a strong connection to, the East/South East of England. 

We are particularly interested in working with artists/companies that define themselves as ‘under-represented’ or are ‘under the radar’ in the industry. The deadline for submissions is 5pm March 25th.

Young Writers’ Workshops 2024

The Young Writers’ Workshop 2024 is now underway. All 8 writers are tasked with penning a new 45-minute play. We will present extracts from each of these plays at a special showcase on March 24th at Cambridge Junction. The YWW is an intense mentoring and development programme for early career playwrights. We create a space for participants to explore, to take risks and to dig deep - all with the aim of discovering what they have to offer the world and the form they wish to use.

Support for Young Writers’ Workshops

We are grateful to the following Trusts and Foundations who generously support Menagerie’s Young Writers’ Workshops 2024: The Idlewild Trust; The Barbara Whatmore Trust; The Garrick Charitable Trust

Latest News

Young Writers’ Workshop 2024

Our Young Writers cohort for 2024 are; Susanna Wolff, Jenny Wall, Katie Smith, Emma Pallett, Ruth Mestel, Erin Hutton, Stan Gordon, and Louis Catliff.

Our Guest Writers include:

  • Winsome is an award-winning writer for stage, radio, film and television. She is currently under commission to the National Theatre, Headlong Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Royal Court and the Unicorn Theatre.

    Theatre includes: ROCKETS AND BLUE LIGHTS (National Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange & BBC Radio 3); ONE UNDER (Graeae Theatre Company/UK Tour, Kiln Theatre); LEAVE TAKING (Bush Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse & National Theatre); GLUTATHIONE (Young Vic Theatre); THE PRINCIPLES OF CARTOGRAPHY (Bush Theatre); TITUBA (Hampstead Theatre); CLEANING UP (Clean Break) and more.

  • Martha Loader is a playwright, actor and producer from Ipswich. Previous work has been presented by HighTide, Mercury Theatre, Menagerie Theatre Company, and INK. She is an associate artist of the New Wolsey Theatre, has been commissioned by Menagerie, and by the Almeida Theatre as part of their ‘Genesis New Playwrights, Big Plays Programme’. Her play BINDWEED won the Judges Award at the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 and will tour in 2024.

  • Tim Foley is a writer based in Manchester. His play ELECTRIC ROSARY won the 2017 Bruntwood Prize Judges’ Award. His most recent play, DRIFTWOOD, has recently been produced by Pentabus Theatre for a national tour. Tim’s first full-length play, THE DOGS OF WAR, premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in May 2015 and won the 2016 OffWestEnd award for Most Promising New Playwright. He was awarded the Channel 4 Playwright’s bursary in 2016. His second play, ASTRONAUTS OF HARTLEPOOL, premiered at the 2017 VAULT Festival and won the VAULT Origins Award for Outstanding New Work.

  • Sarah Woods is an award-winning writer and creative systems thinker. She’s currently a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, where she’s working on the project People & Patterns: Transforming the ways we think and connect when everything is at risk. With Emily Lethbridge (Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies), she has just been awarded a 3-year Icelandic research grant for Kvennaspor: Unearthing and Foregrounding Women in Icelandic Saga Landscapes. She’s founder of Artists In Exile, supporting artists to find refuge in the UK.