A Play, A Pie and A Pint & Birds of Paradise are commissioning a new work from a disabled playwright for performance in 2025.

 Full details 

About A Play, A Pie and A Pint

Founded in 2004 by David MacLennan, A Play, A Pie and A Pint (PPP) produces the most new writing of any theatre in the UK. After running for twenty years, the core principles remain steadfast: to present a new play every week at lunchtime which lasts for under an hour with a pie and a pint included in the price of every ticket. 

PPP produces more than 30 new plays a year across two seasons at Òran Mór in the West End of Glasgow. We regularly work in association with other theatres including the Traverse Theatre, Aberdeen Performing Arts, and Ayr Gaiety as well as new partners such as Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Mull Theatre, Macrobert in Stirling, and Pitlochry Festival Theatre to present our works to a variety of audiences across the country.

We work with a large number of writers, actors, and directors each season, all with different levels of experience, from well-known actors to first time playwrights. We have a small core team that delivers a large output of work.

Since beginning as an experiment, the organisation has grown considerably over the past twenty years and is now widely considered to be an established part of the Scottish theatre industry.

About Birds of Paradise

Birds of Paradise Theatre Company (BOP) is Scotland’s preeminent pioneering disability-led theatre company and a force for change. BOP has 30 years of experience and knowledge, offering trailblazing career opportunities for disabled people in the arts, making game-changing theatre and undertaking strategic work that has left Scotland more diverse and accessible than it was three decades ago. We continue to be a challenge to the status quo – confronting the absence and exclusion of disabled people from theatre, culture and many areas of society by placing their stories on our stages.

Birds of Paradise Theatre Company has altered how the Scottish theatre industry views disability and how it thinks about access in Scotland.

BOP creates spaces where disabled people can see their lives reflected in culture and society – and where they can be involved in the telling, making and presentation of these stories. BOP remains as important today as when it was established, principally because disability equality in the arts is an ongoing process and disability equality in society is far from established.

BOP makes theatre that is about disabled people, by disabled people and for everyone. We are pioneers of Creatively Embedded Access – building audio description, sign language and captioning into our productions. We are leaders in providing accessible learning opportunities and strategic development work that impacts the wider ecology of the arts.  BOP are sought internationally for our knowledge and expertise – we are a Scottish cultural asset that is frequently exported.

About the commission

PPP is no stranger to presenting a diverse range of perspectives on its stage throughout every season. Joining up with Birds of Paradise is the perfect partnership to hone in on disabled representation in our programme.

This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to find new disabled writing talent in Scotland, bring a new play to life as part of the PPP season, and give it a development process seldom offered for PPP plays. The writer will also get invaluable mentoring and career support from Birds of Paradise as part of the process.

Support from BOP

• Mentoring support – matching an experienced artist to the new writer. The mentor will provide career support as well as dramaturgical input for the PPP script.
• A director and up to 3 actors for a first draft readthrough in March 2025.
• PPP access to any and all drafts.
• Invitations to PPP for sharings and read-throughs, with sufficient notice.
• A first-draft development fee of £2,200.00 equivalent to 4 weeks at £550.00 per week. In addition to this fee, BOP will assist with covering access costs; these funds will help mitigate barriers the writer may experience during the commission.
• Production and marketing support for the PPP performance and ongoing presentations (subject to confirmation) after Òran Mór.
• Marketing of the play in the lead up to performances, promoting the work to their network using a strategy developed together with PPP.
• Support with embedding Creative Access – audio description, sign language and captioning – within the production.
• Access advocacy within conversations with partners including, but not limited to, PPP.

Support from A Play, A Pie and A Pint

• A licence fee for the play based on our SSP agreement for a 50-minute play. 50% of which will be paid at time of contract with the remaining 50% paid at the beginning of rehearsals. PPP’s current agreed SSP rate is £1,600.00 + £250.00 box office fee totalling £1,850.00. (If presented at additional venues as part of a PPP co-presenter agreement, another per venue payment will be made). This figure is subject to change, according to PPP-SSP negotiations.
• Full inclusion in the PPP season announcement and presentation within our celebratory 20^th anniversary year.
• Delivery of full production, including a cast of up to 3 professional actors, director (in consultation with BOP) and designer, and full support of the wider PPP team (inc. casting, producers, and communications).
• Dramaturgical input from PPP’s Artistic Director or Artistic Associate.
• Presentation at Glasgow’s Òran Mór with the potential for additional venues beyond the initial run.
• Ongoing relationship opportunities.

The production will be assigned an experienced Director in agreement with Birds of Paradise, and casting for the production will be in line with PPP’s standard casting process.

Commission description

• Write a 50-minute (maximum) play for A Play, A Pie and A Pint.
• The writer should have lived experience of disability or d/Deafness   – we acknowledge this can be interpreted in many different ways.
• Deliver a first draft of the script by March 2025 (exact date to be agreed) in preparation for a readthrough with a director and actors.
• Demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills liaising with the Birds of Paradise executive team and the PPP administrative and production teams.
• Desire and need to be taken through a mentoring process to support a new PPP script.
• Ability to commit to the development process of a first draft from November 2024 to March 2024, with a subsequent production draft completed by May 2025.

Essential criteria

• Age 18+ (no upper age limit)
• Not previously commissioned by A Play, A Pie and A Pint
• No more than 2 professional productions of previous work
• Lived experience of disability or d/Deafness.

Experience

• Playwriting – although no formal production experience is necessary. You will be assessed on the quality of your writing, the idea presented and your suitability for the role.

Fees

• Development fee: £2,200.00 supported by Birds of Paradise to deliver the full first draft of the production.
• License agreement and box office royalty fee for presentation at one venue: £1,850.00.

How to apply

To apply for this opportunity, please send us:

1. Sample text – 10 pages from an existing or new play. This need not be from the beginning of a text. It should give us an idea of your skill, your passion for story, your clear sense of character.
2. PPP pitch – outline the full story of a play you think would be suitable for A Play, A Pie and A Pint. If you have never seen a PPP production before, it is highly recommended to watch a production before writing this application, specifically this pitch. The play should be a self-contained story within 50-minutes maximum, it must have low-tech level of presentation (the speedy nature of PPP means that small design elements can be accommodated) and it must be performed by no more than 3 actors. Please give details of style, location, characters, and plot.
3. Statement of Suitability – given the person and experience specifications above and the brief for a PPP production, describe in under 300 words why you believe you are suitable for commission.
4. Mentoring needs – please describe in under 100 words what benefit you would have at this stage of your career in having 5 sessions with an experienced mentor. This would be explicitly about your artistry, as well as the play that you would be asked to write as part of this role.
5. CV – detailing writing experience and any other relevant experience (volunteer, student or professional). Please clearly indicate which theatre credits are professional and if any were commissioned performances of your playwriting.

Parts 2, 3, and 4 can be submitted in writing, as a video (particularly for BSL submission), or as a voice recording and sent to the address or number below.

Closing date for applications is Tuesday 1^st October 2024 at 5pm. Applicants are asked to combine all 5 application items into one document as a PDF attachment saved as the following: “FIRST NAME_LAST NAME_PPPBOP_APPLICATION”.

Applications should be submitted to ppp@boptheatre.co.uk. Enquires can be made to the same address or via Whatsapp to 0141 552 1725.

Applications will be assessed initially by Birds of Paradise executive team who will create a shortlist. Shortlisted applications will then be jointly assessed by Birds of Paradise executive team and A Play, A Pie, and A Pint staff. Decisions will be made, and candidates notified, by the end of October 2024. All applications will receive feedback where desired.