A report published last autumn by the British Theatre Consortium found that attendances were up in 2023 compared to 2019, but there were 30 per cent fewer plays opening during the same period. This will set the alarm bells ringing among anyone who loves theatre.

Having said that, there are at least a couple of big reasons to be optimistic. Firstly, there are theatre companies out there still willing to take a punt on talented new writers, and secondly there’s a real appetite for new plays and musicals amongst audiences – how else do you explain the success of productions like Prima Facie, Six and Operation Mincemeat to name just a few?

At the recent Oliviers it was great to see exciting new productions like Oh, Mary! Cole Escola’s spoof of the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, and James Graham’s Punch, bag awards. It was also wonderful to see The Boy at the Back of the Class, adapted for the stage by Red Ladder alumni Nick Ahad, win Best Family Show.

This tells me there are some supremely talented writers out there – we just need more of them. That’s one of the reasons why I started Red Ladder’s artist development policy. I wanted to send a message of solidarity to northern writers and to show that we’re actively looking for new people to collaborate with – and it’s worked.

Our next show – Close Enough to Touch – a co-production with Hull-based Silent Uproar, is a brilliant one-person show about sex, heartbreak…and toilets, which goes on tour across the country this autumn. It’s written by Henry Roberts who came through our artist development programme, which shows we’re putting our money where our mouth is.

“Without exciting new writers and stories, theatre will wither on the vine”

We know that investing in fresh talent is vital for the lifeblood of the UK theatre industry. We know, too, that for theatre companies like us, collaborations are crucial. Last year, we had four separate play readings and this year we have six thanks to our partnership with Leeds Conservatoire.

We also run courses for new and emerging writers that are producing a wealth of fabulous stories, culminating in our Annual Showcase in May, which went down a storm again.

You can listen to monologues from the 2026 writers here. 

We can’t promise people jobs through our artist development policy, we’re just one small organisation that punches above its weight, but we can offer our attention: we’ll read the first 10 pages of any script we’re sent, and we will always get back to people with feedback and advice.

There’s a genuinely collaborative spirit among the theatre networks in the North, so even if we can’t always offer support to a writer we can signpost them to groups like Arts at the Arms, a brilliant Yorkshire-based performing arts organisation founded by Chris O’Connor and James Underwood, that showcases local talent.

“You don’t need to move to London – new writing is alive and kicking in the North” 

Thankfully, there are still theatre companies championing emerging writers and giving them an opportunity to hone their craft, and I’m proud to say we’re one of them.

Red Ladder has been a “new writing theatre” for nearly 60 years, and the work we do today leans into our identity as one of the standard bearers of new theatre in this country.

I know these are straitened times in the arts right now, but it’s imperative that theatre companies continue to put their faith in emerging northern talent so writers can see a viable career path for themselves, whether they’re based in Bradford, Leeds or Liverpool – without exciting new writers and stories theatre will wither on the vine, and we can’t allow that to happen.

They say that turbulent times often produce great art, and goodness knows they’re turbulent now. We need to tap into this because we know the talent is out there, we see it in our workshops, our scratch nights and our writing courses.

The passion for bold and imaginative storytelling remains undimmed and my message to any would-be playwright is this – you don’t need to move to London; new writing is alive and kicking here in the North.