New Writing Festival 2024

Performances at 3PM on Fri 28 Jun and Sat 29 Jun

Be the first to experience eight brand new plays as they make their debut at Bristol Old Vic. From psychological family dramas and offbeat comedies, to existential musicals and surreal explorations of tragedy and virtual worlds, the New Writing Festival showcases the eclectic and bold voices of the Theatre School’s Drama Writing graduates.

An Elegy for a Spaceman
by Millie Haldane

Four Scottish boys and a casket walk into a funeral. If they leave, they’ll lose each other forever. If they stay, they fracture themselves completely. As they swap harsh jibes and old stories, they threaten to tear each other apart in order to avoid the truth of what, and who lies in front of them.

I Think I Am Going To Die (oh well)
by Lola Annesley

Days before her death, Woman meets Girl and a new world opens up, allowing them both to escape the lives they know. But as time begins to fragment and reality becomes blurred, the two begin to question what it is they’re really running from. 

Level Up! A Musical
by Lucy Watson
music by Julian Kirk

What if life were more like a game?  Save the world! Risk it all! If you fail, just play again… until the music stops. High tech and high finance collide in a morality tale for our times. 

Dregs
by Nelly Weston

A fossil. A shell. An old teacup. Atop a crumbling cliffside where sand and stone encase the past, a house teeters on the edge of collapse. Its sole occupant refuses to leave.

A Visit
by Jonathan Massey

A young couple war for custody of their son, as their social worker discovers that this child is beyond any earthly understanding. A play that exposes the frailty of policy in the face of something it can’t comprehend.

Hardly Working
by Jessie Millson

Lois and Charity are blasted through the imbalances that drove their relationship apart. Their fallout questions whether love is controlled by class, and asks what happens when the patriarchy walks into a bar.

Club Penguin
by Morgan Goodfellow

Escape to a virtual world of snow, igloos and penguins. Escape to be ninjas, pirates, spies. Escape the real world. Escape life. On this last day, escape and always waddle on. 

A Girl Walks Into A…
written by the cohort
dramaturgy by David Lane

A woman is killed on the street. A hot air balloon soars over Bristol. Time and space shatter as the city unpicks a tragedy. High above, the father of a murderer grapples with what can’t be comprehended.