Frequently Asked Questions

• Who can submit a play?

  Anyone living in the United Kingdom can submit a play. Whether you are three or 93; whether you are a professional writer or have never written a play before, we want to read your play. 

• What support will I receive?

  There will be online guidance in the form of films, podcasts and downloads, They will be added to our resources page as we develop them. 

• In what format should I submit my play?

  You will be asked to submit your play via the 37 Plays website in a Word or PDF document.

• What is the timeframe for writing?

  The deadline for submitting your play is 12 midday on 31 January 2023, but we will accept your play from 3 January 2023.

• Can I write my play using my local dialect?

  We require plays to be written predominantly in the English language. Where there are sections written in modified English or a different language, we will require an accompanying translation.

• What will happen with the 37 plays that are selected?

  Writers of selected plays will be contacted by the RSC and partner theatres in May 2023. All writers of selected plays will receive a fee and will need to grant permission for the theatres to publish, broadcast and perform their play script-in-hand (actors performing while holding a script) as part of a celebration of all the plays in 2023.

• Can I submit a piece of autobiographical writing? What sort of plays are you looking for?

  Yes, you can submit a piece of writing about yourself and your life. We are looking for plays that ask a question or explore a story about the world we live in today. Your story could be set in the past, or in the present, or in the future, but must be relevant to an audience experiencing it now.

• Should I write a play about Shakespeare or that re-tells one of Shakespeare’s plays?

  You can write a new, original play about Shakespeare, but not an adaptation of a story that has already been written.

• Will you produce my play as a full-scale production if I'm selected as one of the 37 playwrights?

  All the 37 selected plays will be performed script-in-hand. If your play is then selected by a partner theatre to be taken forward as a full-scale production, you will then be invited to discuss this directly with them and enter into a new agreement with them.