2023 Submissions Deadline

If you'd like to direct a show in 2023 time is running out!

The 2023 season will commence in February following our Youth show which will kick off the new programme. We’re planning the entire year this time, not just a six-month season and the deadline of midnight has been extended to midnight at the end of Monday 8th August.

If you’re keen to submit a play you’d like to direct, please email us as soon as possible and we’ll send you all the necessary information plus the form to complete. If you’re a playwright, please find a willing director to submit your original play with a vision for the production. Sorry, but we can’t accept original plays for which we’d need to find a director: our submissions process is director-led and we don’t have capacity to provide feedback on new writing.

We’d especially like to receive submissions from directors (or writers with directors on board) who represent our diverse community in south London, and we’re committed to redressing the balance with more plays by writers and directors of colour and other under-represented groups.

There are a few things we should flag before you get in touch. The first is that the play you choose should not have been performed at SLT for at least a decade. (Check the SLT Wiki archive here).

Applying for licences to perform can be challenging, especially with plays which rely on permissions coming from agents (often the case with new work) rather than publishers like Nick Hern or Concord. If you don’t already have a particular play in mind, it’s worth checking what’s available via publishers, and we’d always recommend you have a back-up plan in case your favourite isn’t available to us. The National Theatre bookshop is a great place to browse!

When submitting, bear in mind that the process for preparing a show is about 13 weeks from auditions to the end of the run so this may impact on your availability. To make best use of the rooms available at SLT, our rehearsals follow a standard pattern of Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday and Wednesday/Friday/Sunday so you must be available on one of these cycles for your rehearsal period.

We’ll be considering submissions immediately following the 8th August deadline, with a view to announcing the season before the end of October.

Email theatrecommittee@southlondontheatre.co.uk to express your interest in submitting or to ask any questions. This won’t commit you to anything, but please get in touch as soon as possible so that we can gauge the amount of interest.

Once again, the deadline for submissions is fast approaching on 8 August 2022.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Cal & Jo

SLT Theatre Committee