After raising more money than expected to cover the costs of their theatre season, Funeral Pyre Theatre is giving scriptwriters a chance to bring their work to life. 1o playwrights will present their 10-minute plays to London’s theatre community members. The contest, hosted by the small theatre company, will award the winners with the entry fees, which are $30 each.
Liam Gruntè, the artistic director of Funeral Pyre Theatre, said they originally were going to have the writers produce 15-minute plays, but then realized it may not be enough time.
It took them six months to create their two-hour long “Dracula” production, but Gruntè explained the amount of time it takes to produce a play all depends on the company’s vision.
“With ‘Dracula’, we really wanted to go for that gothic-horror feel, so we really wanted to make sure that we adapted the book in a way that we could really express the dark mood and tone of everything,” he said, “We also did Shakespeare earlier in the year, and I don’t want to say it was easier to produce, but it was more lighthearted and it had a lot more areas to go in.”
Gruntè said this contest is a way of giving back to the theatre community, after the success of Funeral Pyre’s fundraiser. He explained that no matter where you look, the theatre industry is always going to be very competitive. “There always should be that level of competition, it’s just how business works, but at the same time, it doesn’t mean that we don’t support each other, it doesn’t mean that we’re not trying to be helping each other out, putting each other’s flyers and pamphlets and stuff like that.”
Unless some of the participants are on more than one team, none of the teams will meet each other until the competition.
If you have a script you want to bring to life on stage, you can register here. The plays can be seen at The Poacher’s Arms on August 30th.
