Monologue Writing Competition

monologues

Would you like to see your work performed by a professional actor?

As part of Test Valley 2020 Borough of Culture we are offering this opportunity to six Test Valley writers. All you have to do is write a short monologue inspired by the Test Valley. This could be a place, a personal memory, a historical incident or a historical figure with Valley connections.

The best six monologues will receive a script in hand reading by professional actors from the Salisbury Fringe at The Lights on 26 June 2020.  Casting can be attribute blind so there is no need to feel restricted in your choice of protagonist. 

We define a Test Valley writer as someone who lives or works in Test Valley local authority or is a Hampshire resident with a connection to the Valley.

Free workshop

We are offering a free three-hour monologue writing workshop run by award winning drama writing tutor Angela Street. Angie’s workshops are both informative and fun. The workshop will be held at Andover Museum at 10.15 on 15 January 2020. Numbers are limited to 15. Register for a free place here

If you have a device , we recommend listening to some of the monologues from the Paines Plough ‘Come To Where I’m From ‘ project. You can find how to access this at https://www.painesplough.com/project/come-where-im.

How to enter

E-mail your script as an attachment to testvalleymonologues2020@gmail.com, with the title as subject line. In addition, include as a separate attachment a note of your name and contact details (e-mail, address and telephone). This should be titled ‘[title of your play]-contact details’. This will only be opened when judging is complete. Do not include any message in the body of your e-mail.

Your script must be :-

  • Between 1000 and 1700 words, including stage directions, but excluding title.
  • In DOC, DOCX or PDF format
  • Easy for the actor to read.  Good practice is 12pt, adequate margins for an actor to hold the pages and any stage directions clearly separated from spoken text by the use of italics and separate lines for the former. 
  • Page-numbered

Do not include anything in the script that identifies you.

The closing date for submissions is 31 March 2020.

What happens next?

The competition judge is Penny Gold.  In the course of her career, Penny has been assistant director at The Royal Shakespeare Company,  Head of Radio 4 drama and literary manager at The Nuffield Theatre. We expect judging to be complete by 15 May 2020, but please bear with us if the number of entries means it takes a little longer.

We cannot give feedback on individual entries or enter into any correspondence on the judge’s decision. 

You retain copyright of your script. Test Valley Arts Foundation and Test Valley 2020 Borough of Culture retains the right to use for publicity and archive purposes only.