Everyone Has the Right
Everyone Has the Right is a scheme supported by Amnesty International UK and encourages writers exploring human rights stories to create compelling and thought-provoking theatre.
We look for plays that are surprising, timely, entertaining and powerful. We seek out unique voices and new talent – writers who are not afraid to tackle the big questions.
Jan Goodman in ‘One Hour Eighteen Minutes’
“Truth in drama is forever elusive. You never quite find it but the search for it is compulsive. The search is clearly what drives the endeavour. The search is your task.”
Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize for Literature acceptance speech, 2005
OUR NEW SCRIPT POLICY
To be included in this scheme, plays must examine human rights issues as a central and deliberate theme. We therefore are unlikely to consider plays, for example, that deal with issues of personal freedoms without placing them in a wider political and social context, or where the responsibility for the oppression does not lie with the state or related powers.
In our experience, plays that have not been written with an express mission to explore human rights will not be appropriate for this scheme.
See more about what makes a human rights story here
Read about the history of the scheme here
If the play meets the Everyone Has the Right criteria, and if a member of the ice&fire script-reading team feel it is a play that has the potential to be a successful and dynamic production, the writer will receive feedback in terms of plot, dialogue, characterisation and its overall effectiveness as a piece of theatre.
David Mildon in ‘One Hour Eighteen Minutes’
Constructive, to the point, thorough, and above all encouraging and inspiring: many thanks, indeed.’
Response from a writer to our feedback
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Some of the writers receiving feedback will be invited to work with ice&fire to develop their plays towards production, receiving one-to-one dramaturgical support and facilitated script workshops with other writers in the scheme.
Previously, the best plays have received professional rehearsed readings at a partner theatre, or at Amnesty International UK’s central London Human Rights Action Centre. Many of these plays have then been picked up for professional productions at some of London’s most prestigious venues.
I submitted my play S-27 to the Everyone Has the Right because it seemed like an appropriate scheme to enter because of iceandfire’s reputation and the link to Amnesty. Being selected has completely changed my life. As a writer, it validated what I was trying to explore artistically and politically in my work at the time. In terms of my career, it established me as an up and coming writer, both in the UK and internationally. I was taken on by an agent as a result of winning the competition. At the reading I was approached by the director Steve Keyworth, who then directed the play at the Finborough in 2009. The play was produced in Australia in 2010, as a result of connections established through iceandfire. The play is going to have a production in Toronto in 2012. I feel that the award and its association with Amnesty has been particularly helpful in promoting the play internationally.- Sarah Grochala, Playwright
SUBMISSIONS
Our new guidelines above have been refined to reflect our experience of running the scheme since 2006. Please consider carefully whether your script is likely to meet our new criteria.
If so, we accept completed plays, in English, written for the stage, which have not been professionally produced in the UK. Plays can be of any length and for any age group. Manuscripts must be sent to us by post. There is no deadline for submission.
Please send:
- Your script
- A short synopsis (200-300 words) along with a short paragraph about how you think your play engages with a human rights theme
- Completed cover sheet (Download as Word Doc or as PDF file)
- To: Everyone Has the Right, ice&fire, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS.
