Retreats, Bursaries & Awards

A multi-year partnership with Concord Theatricals, cementing the Court’s commitment to discovering and platforming brand new playwrights. 

The Unpublished Writers Award will provide support and funding towards the premiere production of a new play each year written by a previously-unpublished playwright, including writers new to the UK. 

The supported plays will be chosen for production by our artistic team in consultation with Concord Theatricals, an internationally leading theatre publisher and licensing company. Supported playwrights will also enter an agreement with Concord Theatricals to publish the play in the UK and manage future amateur licensing. 

Jerwood New Playwrights supports playwrights in the early stages of their careers to bring their plays to life, at the Royal Court Theatre. Since 1994, this initiative has supported over 70 writers to premiere and produce their plays in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs and Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court. 

Throughout its history, the programme has produced a collection of challenging and outspoken works which explore a variety of new forms and voices. It has been instrumental in discovering and supporting some of the most important playwrights of our time, from Sarah Kane to David Greig and Mark Ravenhill to Ayub Khan Din. 

Recent Jerwood New Playwrights include Zia Ahmed, Ruby Thomas and Oli Forsyth. Jerwood New Playwrights is part of a long-standing partnership between Jerwood and the Royal Court which spans 30 years. 

Designed to support and elevate emerging talent, it provides a bursary and tailored experience to an outstanding writer as part of their journey with the Royal Court. 

This award is rooted in our commitment to deepening the support and investment we provide to promising playwrights identified through our broader programmes. Every two years, applications will be invited from writers who’ve previously been selected for support on one of our open-access programmes, but who haven’t yet had a full production at the Royal Court. 

The award will be tailored around the playwright’s individual needs, interests and aspirations. It can be used to provide the time and space needed to focus on writing, or to offer specialised training, mentorship and experiences essential for advancing their career. 

This award honours the legacy of Lynne Gagliano, the former Head of the Royal Court’s Young Court, who dedicated her life to supporting young people in the arts before her passing in 2016. Lynne’s unwavering commitment to the future of playwriting continues through this award, and we are grateful to Lynne’s family for their ongoing support. 

Recent recipients of the Lynne Gagliano Writers’ Award include Tife Kusoro and Hannah Shury-Smith. 

Awarded by the Royal Court’s artistic team, The Clare McIntyre Bursary offers additional support for artists facing hardship or to fund additional time developing their work towards production on our stages, and the critical opportunities this can unlock. 

The Bursary is named in honour of playwright Clare McIntyre. Clare’s plays at the Royal Court included Low Level Panic (1988), winning the Samuel Beckett Theatre Award; My Heart’s a Suitcase (1990), winning the Evening Standard and London Drama Critics awards for Most Promising Playwright; and The Thickness of Skin (1996). We are grateful to Clare’s family and other donors for their support in maintaining this bursary for the next generation of writers. 

Previous recipients include Iman Qureshi, Joel Tan and Emteaz Hussain.

Each year, we invite the writers we’re most excited about – but who’ve never had a play staged at the Royal Court – to join us on a week-long retreat and programme of year-long support, made possible through our long-term partnership with entertainment group SISTER. 

Chosen writers will be paid, housed, fed and watered, and given time and space to write with dramaturgical support on tap. Throughout the week of the retreat, we’ll also encourage group discussion with peers and our artistic team, with added expertise and inspiration from special guests and leading playwrights. Following the week, writers will be supported throughout the following year, working with our artistic team to further their craft, build their networks and develop new projects for the stage. 

There’s no need to send an additional application or write a new lengthy proposal to take part. Every writer whose work our team or our talent scouts see, or who sends us a play through Open Submissions, will be eligible to be considered for inviting on the retreat programme.