We commissioned two investigations into new writing in theatre in England in order to examine this important area of work more closely than was possible in our theatre assessment. Our two investigations looked at different aspects of new writing between 2003 and 2008/9.

Emma Dunton, Roger Nelson and Hetty Shand, in New Writing in Theatre 2003–8, an assessment of new writing within smaller scale theatre in England, considered the smaller producers, projects funded through our Grants for the arts programme and examples of writers working in less traditional ways: for example, with physical theatre companies or developing work through a devising process.

The British Theatre Consortium, consisting of David Edgar, Dan Rebellato, Janelle Reinelt, Steve Waters and Julie Wilkinson, looked at the larger theatres and producers, mostly supported with regular funding from us, and writers working in a more traditional way. Their report is entitled Writ Large, new writing on the English stage 2003–2009.

We are grateful to the many writers, producers and others who took the time to answer questionnaires, attend meetings and talk to the two teams.

Downloads

• Investigations into new theatre writing in England: our response to the reports
• New Writing in Theatre 2003–8, an assessment of new writing within smaller scale theatre in England
• Writ Large, new writing on the English stage 2003–2009