How it Works

Choosing Plays

The call is made for plays of 15 minutes or less to be submitted between March and June. Each play is read at least twice by different members of our reading panel. Successful plays then move forward to the second stage, where each one is given a full reading by a quorate panel. From here, all plays that are believed to merit further consideration for the festival move on to a third stage, where they are read again and discussed at length with regard to their suitability for Off Cut, an eye to variety in the final programme, and their adherence to our artistic policy.

At the third stage we choose 32 plays, all of which we would be happy to have as part of the festival. From those 32, we choose 24 plays which best reflect a diversity of style, genre, tone, subject matter, influence and appeal, which will make it through to Off Cut. The final eight will then go forward to the Bloggers’ Choice.

In keeping with a modern theatre audience’s use of online media, and to embrace the burgeoning importance of online opinion, Off Cut invites a small group of pre-eminent theatre bloggers to a evening of rehearsed readings of the remaining eight plays. From those eight they will choose the final four to make it to the final. These plays will be of particular interest to the bloggers, as they follow the progress of the festival. The four plays that do not make it to the final 28 are kept in reserve, should unforeseen circumstances mean any of the Off Cut 28 need to be replaced.