We’re now accepting submissions for the 2026 Festival - an exciting opportunity for writers to showcase bold, original storytelling on stage. Whether you're an emerging writer or an experienced playwright, we want to read your work.
Submissions should be original short plays written for the stage, with the potential to be performed as part of the festival. We’re particularly interested in scripts that are fresh, thought-provoking, and well-suited to small-cast productions.
We welcome submissions from writers of all ages and levels of experience. As part of our commitment to inclusivity and representation, we particularly encourage submissions from people from the Global Majority, D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, LGBTQ+ communities, and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds or other underrepresented groups.
CRITERIA FOR SUBMISSIONS
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Open to anyone resident in the UK and Ireland, and to UK and Irish nationals living abroad
Entries must be new writing or never professionally performed in the UK
YOUR SCRIPT SUBMISSION:
Each writer may only submit a maximum of two scripts
Plays should preferably have a minimum of two actors and a maximum of four actors. Actors could always play multiple roles
SUBMISSION CATERGORIES:
PLAYS FOR RADIO:
1, OPEN TOPIC
20-minute or under play on a subject of your choice. We are delighted if the script includes the potential for imaginative lighting, projection and staging.
2, 10
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the INK Festival, 20-minute or under play which includes the number 10.
3, COMEDY
20-minute or under comic play in partnership with Aldeburgh Comedy Weekend.
4, PLAY ON A BUS
20-minute or under play, for two characters, set in and performed on a 16-seater static Hoppa Bus. Movement for the actors is restricted to the front of the bus and the aisle, with the audience seated on each side. The actors can sit, if necessary, but only briefly as this restricts visibility to most of the audience. Windows are not blacked out and there isn’t capacity for sound or lights. There is an entrance at the front and rear of the bus.
5, PLANET INK
Do you feel the world shifting beneath your feet? Here in Suffolk it literally is. The insatiable appetite for energy, houses, roads, jobs, cars and commercial space is reshaping the coastline and our rural future. Is the cost of progress a price worth paying? Can you paint the big picture in a 20-minute or under play?
6, VOICES FROM THE LARDER
20-minute or under play that will be performed in a food bank.
7, WICKED WITCH OF HALESWORTH
The title for a 45-minute FAMILY play. Please initially submit just 4 pages, (i.e. 8 sides), along with a 50-word synopsis. If we like the script, we will ask for the full-length version.
8, 18 OR UNDER - on 31 October 2025
As Alex ran out of the room, Micky exclaimed, “Once you go through that door …” 15-minute or under play, for 2 or 3 characters, that includes the above dialogue somewhere in your script.
PLAYS FOR RADIO:
1, LONG RADIO:
45-minute radio play on a subject of your choice. Please submit just 4 pages, (i.e. 8 sides), along with a 50-word synopsis. If we like the script, we will ask for the full- length version. Please DO NOT send the full-length LONG RADIO script when you initially submit
2, RADIO COMOEDY
20-minute or under comic radio play that will amuse!