National Theatre announces winner of 2021 nationwide New Views playwriting competition for young people
17-year-old student Mackenzie Wellfare from HSDC Alton in Hampshire is announced today as the winner of the National Theatre’s annual playwriting competition for 14–19-year-olds. This year has seen more first drafts of scripts submitted to the competition than ever before, with Mackenzie’s play Perspective selected from over 400 final entries from 74 secondary schools and colleges across the UK.
Inspired to write this play to share his own experience of autism as well as others’, Perspective by Mackenzie Wellfare explores the experiences of a teenage boy, Leo, with autism through his conversations with his best friend Shaun. Set in his bedroom, Leo’s big imagination fills the stage as he considers how the world sees him.
Perspective was selected from a shortlist of nine plays by a panel of judges including NT’s Head of Play Development Nina Steiger, playwright and screenwriter Beth Steel, playwright and performer Mojisola Adebayo and Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre Company.
The play will be performed in a full production by professional actors at the National Theatre and will be streamed to participating schools across the UK to watch in July, alongside rehearsed readings of seven shortlisted plays as part of the digital festival of new writing. Following the production, Mackenzie will also take part in a live streamed Q&A about his play alongside the director.
The digital festival will also showcase the work of a group of D\deaf students from Eastbury Community School’s Alternative Resource Provision. The students have taken part in playwriting workshops facilitated by Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre and have developed scenes exploring their experiences of the world. A selection of these scenes entitled Conversation Breakdown will be directed by Jenny Sealey and performed as part of the rehearsed readings.
Mackenzie Wellfare said, “I’m so excited to have won! To have my play performed is just unbelievable and I can’t wait to see how it turns out! I want to show a perspective of Autism that I believe hasn’t been truly shown in modern media, and yet which some people experience every day of their lives.”
Jenny Sealey, Artistic Director of Graeae Theatre and member of the judging panel said, “Perspective has a matureness in its unpacking of the heart stuff. It’s an important play, beautifully simple in its mass of complexity.”
Nina Steiger, NT’s Head of Play Development and member of the judging panel said, “In what was a landmark year that took a particularly heavy toll on young people and the performing arts, it was thrilling for us to receive over 400 submissions from all over the UK. The final plays were about identity, imagination, and love and the bravery of expressing these elements of what makes us human, and perhaps what we’ve missed most in being together. That these plays were written at home in lockdown, developed with teachers and mentors over the difficult platform of group Zoom sessions, and that the voices in these plays nevertheless resonate with truthfulness, joy and life force is a testament to the importance of this programme and the self-expression it enables.”
This year the programme was delivered digitally through workshops with professional writers, a playwriting course and the opportunity to watch NT productions for free online, as well as a pre-recorded masterclass on writing for audio with Audible, the official Audio Partner of New Views. Students wrote their own original 30-minute plays, exploring topical issues from mental health and the pandemic to politics and relationships.
Applications to take part in New Views 2021/2022 are now open. To register please visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/newviews
The seven shortlisted plays are:
- In A Room with Gavin and Francesa by Aran Grover from St Olave’s School, London
- The Nursing Home by Charlotte D’Angelo from Wimbledon High School, London
- Childhood, War and Love by Ellie Sharman from Ricard’s Lodge, London
- Colour Inside The Lines by Jamila Salim from The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boy’s School, Hertfordshire
- Billionaire’s Row by Joel Wall from Oxted School, Surrey
- Bus Stops by Mia Galanti from Lady Margaret School, London
- Rose Coloured Glasses by Nyah With from Southend School for Girls, Essex
The National Theatre’s Partner for Learning is Bank of America.
New Views is supported by The Mohn Westlake Foundation, Buffini Chao Foundation, The Hearn Foundation Old Possum’s Practical Trust, The Steel Charitable Trust and Chapman Charitable Trust.
Audible is the Official Audio Partner of New Views.