What makes a Flesh & Blood Story?
A great photograph not just captures a moment but begs a question: Who are these people? What’s going on? What’s their story? But a photograph cannot fully reveal the answer. Its subjects are silent and motionless. Unlike the characters in a play, who can step forward, speak for themselves and tell us everything we need to know. So long as we need to know it, that is…
Our Audiences
Put simply, our audiences have something better to do. Instead of venturing out to see a play, they can easily stay at home and watch Netflix or open YouTube or go shopping on Amazon (often at the same time). If they do go out, they can choose the pub, the cinema, or simply go see their gran. The point is, with all that to choose from, they have to have a damn good reason to visit the theatre.
The good news is that we have the venues: from the Coliseum to Brycheiniog to the Met to Pontio to The Torch to the Pontardawe Arts Centre to The Riverfront (to name just a handful), there is no shortage of great stages in Wales with well-earned reputations for welcoming their audiences. There is no shortage of audiences either: from Aberdare to Abertillery to Bangor to Brecon to Milford to Newport to Pwllheli there are many who love nothing more than a good night at the theatre. All we have to do is give it to them.
What You Can Expect From Us
We work with the very best directors, editors, actors and technicians, and we have the backing of the very best venues in Wales. We work to the highest standards and will do everything to get your story from script to stage. More importantly, we want the very best for our audiences and so, if we get as far as production, you can be pretty sure that your work will be in the best shape of its life, and in the very best of hands.
But before all that, and following the call out, you should know that every submission will be professionally read and assessed and with the utmost care and attention.
This Is Not A Competition
It’s important to stress again that this is not a competition. This is not a search for the ‘best writing’ or the ‘best writers’ but a hard-headed hunt for artistically and commercially viable works that we think will appeal to our target audiences.
Our hope is that by looking for such stories, we will find a few classics along the way (plays that will likely outlive their authors!). If your work is rejected at any point, this is not the end of the story. Some plays and stories take longer to get right. Indeed, even those submissions that have been optioned but, for whatever reason, do not make it to the inaugural season, these are unlikely to be abandoned. They may even be reserved for further development and/or inclusion in later seasons.
Poppy Bristow
Poppy Bristow is a writer and script reader from the Channel Islands. She has recently completed an MA in Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University under the tutelage of Olivier Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens and, in addition to script reading for the likes of Finborough Hepburn Hooks and LifeBox Theatres, has had her own theatre work read at Manchester’s Royal Exchange.
Molly Stubbs
Molly Stubbs is a writer, copywriter and theatre critic from the South Wales Valleys. Her writing has been published in Goosewax Literary Journal, Papers Publishing’s print issues, and she regularly contributes to nation.cymru. She is currently completing her MA in Creative Writing and, as a copywriter, continues to work with 400+ clients in 12 countries whilst maintaining a 5-star reputation
Zoea Tania Chen
Zoea Tania Chen is a screenwriter and playwright from Singapore. She completed a master’s degree in English Literature in Nanyang Technological University in 2020, before travelling to Wales to pursue a PhD at the University of Swansea. Her films and stage productions have travelled to festivals in Shanghai (ACT Shanghai International Theatre Festival), Italy (La Guarimba International Film Festival) and France (Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival).
Jess Williams
Jess Williams is a writer and story editor who has recently worked with Cardiff Theatre group Jacal, and Temple of Peace’s ghost tour Forget Me Not. As a playwright she made her professional debut in 2024 with Fluellen Theatre for her lunchtime production of Grand. Born in Newport, she studied Creative Writing at Swansea University where she produced a number of shows including a musical parody and work centred around societal issues with a comedic edge.
Cormac Keating
Cormac Keating is a writer and independent filmmaker from Liverpool with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2022, his debut stage play, endogenous, was long-listed for the prestigious Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and he continues to produce work with the film collective – Molluscope – which he co-founded in 2023.
Maxine Evans
Maxine Evans studied classical at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has worked as an actor, writer, series editor and director in television, radio, film and theatre. Her writing/series editor credits include Coronation Street, Crossroads and Nuts & Bolts (ITV) while her directing credits include Without a Song or a Dance (shortlisted Best Director at the Cork Film Festival) Nuts & Bolts (ITV/RTS Award winner) and Rain (a Feature Film Musical). Most notably, Maxine’s production of The Revlon Girl received an ‘Outstanding Achievement’ nomination at the 2018 Olivier Awards. She has worked extensively as an actor, most notably on Call the Midwife, A Song For Jenny and as the indomitable ‘Rhian’ in Sky One’s hit comedy Stella, and in early 2025 we will see Maxine appearing with Colin Firth in Lockerbie: A Search for Truth for Sky. 2025 will also see the anticipated release of her self-written, shot and directed horror-film short, The Jigsaw Room.
Neil Anthony Docking
Neil Anthony Docking is a writer, composer and producer, and has worked in press, radio, film and theatre. He has contributed to The Guardian (Guardian Media Group); Station Road, Casualty (BBC), Nuts & Bolts, Crossroads, Emmerdale (ITV1) and was once shortlisted for the BBC Dennis Potter Screenwriting Award. Original works include The Throne Room, Without a Song or a Dance (BBC), TVCC (Channel 4) and the independent British feature film musical, Rain. In 2016 wrote and produced the original online comedy, Storyline, and in 2018, his debut play for theatre, The Revlon Girl, received not just an Olivier nomination but won the Off-West End Award for ‘Best New Play’