Since I joined iceandfire nearly eighteen months ago, I’ve been absolutely amazed and inspired by the commitment to grassroots events, workshops and projects. From the hugely successful Participation project, Young People Together to the prolific coverage of Actors for Human Rights and its scripts, this is no fair-weather company that simply believes in the glory of fluffy productions that have technical merit but a lack of soul. This is a company that fights for the stories to be heard; the global community to be engaged; and to inspire both good art and depth of feeling through a powerful experiential process.

Later this summer our two worlds of ‘Message’ and ‘Theatre’ will combine beautifully in the formidable and compelling On the Record, but I would like to talk a little more about one of our more elementary projects. One that trickles on in the background of our work, but one that ironically introduces more people to iceandfire than perhaps any other. One that we feel incredibly proud of, because against the behemoths of the National, The Royal Court, Soho Theatre and The Bush, we are inundated with submissions. I am of course, talking about Everyone Has the Right.

Starting life as Protect the Human our aim is to provide a natural home for writers exploring human rights stories to create surprising and entertaining theatre. In essence we are trying to find that story that is as yet untold; that playwright who is as yet unheard; the talent that is as yet unrecognised and to provide a platform and an opportunity to bring all three to fruition.

So who better to write about the scheme, and it’s potential, than the winner of 2008 Protect the Human competition, Julian Armistead, whose entry to the competition, After the Accident has now been published and will be playing at Soho Theatre from 6th – 18th June.

If you are interested in submitting your script to the rolling-scheme (there are no deadlines for entry), and setting free your story, then please visit www.iceandfire.co.uk/participation/everyonehastheright

By Julian Armistead

My play ‘After the Accident’ is shortly beginning the London leg of a tour that began in Oxford in April, and has seen it play to theatres and prisons, young offenders and schools.  It’s also recently been published by Methuen, which for me marks a different kind of milestone, partly because it’s the first of my plays to make it into print, but also because it’s the point at which one has to the draw a line under its development, or to shift metaphors, to snip the umbilical cord.  You hope that what began as a series of conversations on a computer screen, will grow up to have a coherent personality and a life of its own.

I describe ‘After the Accident’ as an imaginative – rather than documentary- exploration of the Restorative Justice process.  I felt, and still feel, very strongly about the subject matter, which has a contemporary relevance and appeal that no doubt helped it get started. It was certainly this that brought it to the attention of the 2008 Amnesty International ‘Protect the Human’ playwriting competition, which it subsequently won.  This recognition was a tremendous break for me, since it gave the play exposure, and accorded me a profile of sorts – though no guarantee of production. However, shortly afterwards, the BBC commissioned an adaptation for the R4 Friday Night Play.  Another first for me, and a wonderful learning experience in itself.

The fact is, that as much as I feel driven by a lifelong passion for the theatre and what it can achieve, I find the process of writing for it incredibly difficult. Unlike a novel a play has to be born twice: the first time onto a page, and the second time onto a stage. Without the goodwill of a theatre and a group of actors, your private vision may be doomed to remain just that – private. You need every endorsement you can get to be taken seriously, and still the hurdles that face any new script actually getting produced can seem monumental.  In fact it’s best not to think about the odds. The only sane approach is develop a mindset appropriate to the task: in the immortal words of Winston Churchill, to ‘Keep Buggering On.’  Three years after winning the award, and now with the support of an agent, I’m really grateful to be doing just that.

After the Accident will be playing at the Soho Theatre Upstairs from June 6^th-18^th

020 7478 0100  www.sohotheatre.com

For further information about After The Accident please contact Rachel Rachel@remprojects.com www.remprojects.com