Submissions are sought from creatives from the East Midlands or wider Midlands region, who wish to create an original stage play for children aged 3 – 8 years old. The 50-minute show is performed in the Neville Studio and then tours to schools, libraries and other community settings across the region.
Adam Penford, Artistic Director atNottingham Playhouse, commented:
“Recruiting the Director, Writer and Composer for The Little Mermaid via an open callout gives local theatremakers the opportunity to introduce Nottingham Playhouse to their work or build on an existing relationship. We have been recruiting for this project via open submission for five years now and have read and listened to hundreds of applications. Each year, we are blown away by the level of creativity and the panel debates long and hard. We're looking forward to seeing how the artists respond to the magical story of The Little Mermaid.”
The open call-out enables Nottingham Playhouse to meet new theatremakers and helps remove potential barriers, ensuring equal access to opportunities. It builds upon the work through the Nottingham Playhouse Amplify programme for local artists, which now has over 800 members and provides masterclasses, workshops and career development opportunities.
The Designer for the production will be appointed through the Playhouse Prize, run in conjunction with Nottingham Trent University, from their BA (Hons) Design for Theatre and Live Performance degree.
For the fourth year running, the show will be designed and produced following the sustainability standard Baseline, as outlined in the Theatre Green Book. This standard requires that 50% of materials should have had a previous life and 65% of materials should be reused or recycled afterwards.
Nottingham Playhouse’s pioneering use of Creative Captioning will also feature for the fifth year, using simple imagery on a screen to highlight key points in the story, making it more accessible to children who are hard of hearing or have issues with auditory processing. This is in addition to fully Captioned performances, BSL interpreted performances and Relaxed Performances.
The 2024 Christmas show for younger children, The Ugly Duckling, was as popular as ever. It offered a refreshed and updated version of the classic story, with original script, music and characters, and lots of opportunities to join in. Audiences were extremely enthusiastic “It was amazing,” said one 3-year-old, whilst LeftLion called it:
“ … a pitch perfect piece of theatre that kept a broad age range … entertained and enthralled for a cracking 50 minutes of heart-warming entertainment.”
Nottingham Playhouse has a long-standing reputation for creating original and charming theatre for young children:
“Using puppetry, costumes, song and dance, and a wonderfully playful sense of humour throughout, this retelling of the classic Danish tale of a changeling’s quest for belonging and acceptance was a huge hit with my four-year-old.” LeftLion
Submission deadlines for all three creatives are in January and February 2025, find out more on the website.
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