Preview: SLT Summer Shorts 2025

(Guy) There’s an open call for writers in the spring, this year on the theme of “scale”. (Anyone can submit a script – you don’t have to be a member at SLT, but no-one is paid for their work.) Writers then register their interest and are informed of all the conditions of submission; one of these is to submit an anonymous script following a consistent formatting, so that when we’re reading them, all scripts look the same and we don’t know who they’ve come from.

The reading panel – of five people this year, including ourselves – then gives each one a score out of 10 and submits comments, which then help us draw up a shortlist of 15 or so; in turn we finesse that to the final 10 following a table-read in the SLT Bar.

(Kelly) A good Short grabs your attention quickly and leaves a lasting impression. With nowhere to hide, the writing and performances need to be sharp, honest, and bold. Strong stories with well-developed characters are especially compelling – they often leap off the page.

This year’s theme of “scale” has inspired wildly different interpretations, from the intimate to the epic, and it’s exciting to see how imagination thrives within the short play format and new writing at SLT.

(Tom) When it came to cutting plays, it wasn’t without a bit of ‘fighting’ among the five of us. I judged the plays on the metrics of “who/what/where” and “why do we care.” I was looking for distinct characters and clear relationships in relatable situations, and texts which fell short on those criteria got my lower scores.

We all felt confident at the end of the process that the plays chosen for the shortlist had a clarity in what the writer was sharing with the audience, which was delivered in a way that left an impression on us.

(Guy) At the table-read back in May, the assembled audience of members and guests voted on their favourites and as a panel we took this advice on board when making our final choices. Part of deciding our final 10 isn’t, at that stage, so much about how good we think the short plays are, but which ones would comprise the best bill in terms of variety of subject matter, genres and cast sizes. We want to try to maximise the chances of an enjoyable evening out at the theatre for everyone, whatever their personal taste.

Auditions quickly follow, also open to all, and the Shorts are a great way of helping new actors dip their toe in the water without the commitment and pressure of a full-length show. Volunteer directors then sweat (literally this summer!) to bring the works and actors to the stage, working in tandem with the writers as necessary. In the week running up to performances, the entire cast finally comes together to run the production as a whole, incorporating all the technical components. In short, we set out to take you on a rollercoaster ride through the peaks of high comedy and the depths of drama, and deposit you at the end of it all with an evening measuring high on the entertainment scale.

Once again this year, we’ll be asking the audiences to vote for their favourite Short over the course of the run, with the winner being announced after the Saturday night show and winning a modest cash prize.

In running order:

• How To Audit Your Dragon – Tax deductible fantasy assets; heed the word of the iScroll
• The Enthusiast – Is it horny or Hornby, you decide
• What If We Were Not Measured – A siren’s warning, a woman’s story
• Flat – Selective hearing leads to dissonance
• You Ask Yourself Am I Happy? – …And realise it’s a numbers game
• Too Much For One Goddess – The trials of being put upon a pedestal
• The Scale-up Guy – Is dating a good meal spoiled?
• A Sense of Scale – An epiphany in the key of me
• With You All The Way – A male friendship of mountainous meaning
• Big Ed’s Big Show And Even Bigger Prizes – If Bob Monkhouse had lived in the 23rd century