Full line up for the Autumn Open Submissions Festival, in partnership with Character 7 announced today
News Story
Today the Royal Court Theatre, in partnership with Character 7, announces the full line up for their third Open Submissions Festival, running from Monday 14 September – Friday 18 September 2026, as part of the theatre’s landmark 70th anniversary season.
Selected from the nearly 4000 scripts received each year, the Festival will showcase five of the most distinctive and exciting new plays submitted to the Royal Court through its Open Submissions Portal, open year-round to all playwrights writing in English worldwide.
Presented in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, the line up includes: Aunties in the USSR by Rebecca Banatvala, directed by Mayaan Haputantri; The Nine of Swords by Eoghan Quinn, directed by Aaliyah McKay; The Honour Table by Selorm Adonu, directed by Aneesha Srinivasan; My Son, the Guillotine by Sam Ward, directed by Danielle Kassaraté; and Theertham by Nayantara Nayar, directed by Nico Rao Pimparé.
The Open Submissions Festival is central to the promise at the heart of the Royal Court’s 70 year legacy - that anyone, anywhere in the world, can submit a play for consideration and it will be read and responded to by a member of our Artistic Team. Thanks to the generous support from award-winning independent production company Character 7, the producers of The Night Manager, the festival now features in the Royal Court programme twice annually.
As well as offering industry and audiences a first glimpse at work for the most promising playwrights, many plays featured in previous festivals have then been programmed as full productions on the Court’s stages. As part of the Royal Court Theatre’s 70th anniversary season this year, Jack Nicholls' The Shitheads, which received an Olivier nomination this year, and Rhys Warrington's Monument, which opens in December, both follow successful readings in the first Open Submissions festival in 2025. While other featured plays enjoy productions elsewhere - Noga Flaishon’s Memoriam opens at Southwark Playhouse Borough later this year.