After 2 years, we’re delighted that in 2026 we relaunched our open call for new voices, and were overwhelmed by the amazing response.
Our window for submissions will next open in 2028. Sign up to our mailing list for updates about this and other artist development opportunities.
Formerly titled Open Submissions, the Writer Discovery Programme is an open call to send us your work. It’s aimed at writers that are not currently represented by an agent, based in the UK or Ireland and write for the stage.
We are keen to discover and build relationships with writers across the UK and Ireland unknown to us. This submission process is an opportunity for us to find exciting new voices, learn more about who’s making work today and begin conversations and invest in the development of writers whose interests and ambitions feel aligned with our own.
We’re looking for original voices and ideas – writers asking the big questions of today inventively, urgently and theatrically. We want to read your work for future development and collaboration: at least one writer identified through this open call is offered a place on our Bush Writers’ Group.
Submitting your work
Our window is currently closed. This information is to give you an idea of how we accept submissions, what work is eligible and what happens after plays are submitted.
This open call will operate every other year, so will next return in 2028.
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Please fill in all required fields on our submission form.
This will also ask you to attach two documents (each as a .pdf):
- A script sample of no more than 20 pages
- The full script of the same play
A few tips:
- Please include your play title and your name in the document titles.
- Please do not include a CV or biography with your submission as this will not be considered.
- Please only submit one play / piece of work to us for consideration.
Please note, there is also an Equal Opportunities Monitoring form to complete. This is to help us understand how our opportunities are benefiting our whole community.
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- Submit via our dedicated form (not by post, email etc).
- Please answer our supporting questions in the form.
- Please include your play title and your name in the document titles.
- This programme is for artists who do not have agent representation as a writer.
- This programme is for writers based in the UK and Ireland.
- We’re looking for work written for the stage – please do not send novels, poetry, radio plays or screenplays.
- We cannot accept plays which are shorter than 50 pages (1 hour).
- We cannot accept musicals or libretti.
- Your play doesn’t need to be un-produced – we’re keen to read work that really gives us an idea of your voice, even if it’s already been on somewhere.
- We’re looking for original voices and ideas more than adaptations of other work – we’d advise only submitting an adaptation to us if you think it’s a genuine demonstration of what you’re about.
- We’re only accepting one script per writer – if you’ve been in communication with us about a script over the past year, please don’t submit this script to us again!
- Please do not include a CV or biography with your submission as this will not be considered.
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A script can be a collaboration between more than one writer, but a writer can only be a connected to a single submission.
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Stage One
Our artistic team and a small group of readers will read the script samples of all eligible submissions. Although we won’t be able to provide feedback at this initial stage, we will get back to all submissions, and we anticipate this will take us several months. We will also hold a general feedback session online to share overarching feedback and reflections on this round to help inform future submissions and give some insight for writers submitting to other theatres.
Stage Two
If we would like to read more of your work, the team will progress to reading the full script. At this stage, some brief feedback will be shared with all writers regardless of the outcome.
Stage Three
We will invite a small group of writers to the final stage of the process: this may involve beginning a conversation directly with the playwright and exploring appropriate next steps for further working with them. We will also invite at least one playwright to join our Bush Writers’ Group.
FAQs
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Details of the 2028 submissions window will be released nearer the time.
In 2026, we had planned for the submission window to be open for two weeks. As a small charity, we have limited resources, so we set a limit for the total number of submissions we can receive, to protect our ability to properly engage with those submissions.
We got close to hitting the maximum number of scripts, so we closed the window a little early.
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This is our flagship artist development programme to support writers over a sustained period of time and help encourage work on a new, full-length play.
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Like most buildings and competitions, we unfortunately don’t have the capacity to read all scripts submitted to us in full, and we want to be transparent about that. As we’ll at first only be able to read part of your script, we want to empower you to choose a part which you feel good about. We read all of the script samples of eligible submissions.
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We’re calling this our Writer Discovery Programme to better communicate what this opportunity is for: getting a sense of what people are writing and meeting writers new to us, rather than about programming.
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It might take us a few months, but we will get back to everyone who submitted within the window in Aug 2026. We hope to do this by the end of the year.
If you haven’t heard from us by January 2027, please do reach out to us at bushgreen@bushtheatre.co.uk.
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As this programme is a way for us to get to know you, rather than about us programming work on our stages, your play doesn’t need to be un-produced so long as its new to us. We’re keen to read work that really gives us an idea of your voice, even if it’s already been on somewhere.
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We’d love to hear from you if you’d like to read for us in a future year. We hope to let you know in good time when we’re looking for readers in the future.
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