Media Release: National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre receives over 300 submissions worldwide

ONE week on from the closing date for Five Minute Theatre submissions, organisers can confirm that over 300 ideas came flooding in from across the globe including India, China, Paraguay, Mexico, USA, Italy, Germany, Belgium, all over the UK and from every local authority area in Scotland.

Ideas range from five to 65 year-olds proposing Five Minute Theatre pieces taking place in farmyards, gardens and parks to bedrooms, kitchens, trains and shop windows.

These include community groups, schools, families and individual professional theatre-makers based in Mull, Govan and Milan to Orkney, New York and Strathpeffer not forgetting Dalkeith, Loughborough, Co. Cork, Edinburgh and Washington DC.

Marianne Maxwell, National Theatre of Scotland audience development manager, commented: “A great big huge THANK YOU to everyone who has submitted an idea to Five Minute Theatre.

“We have been truly impressed by the number of ideas we received – they are from all over the world and from all walks of life. Reading every one of them has been inspiring and uplifting.

“Each idea has been read by the Five Minute Theatre team at the National Theatre of Scotland and the difficult process of selecting the final line-up is under way and we look forward to announcing the successful entries on Monday 18th April.”

She continued: “Next, we begin the planning and scheduling of each Five Minute segment, filling the places in the live hubs and deploying the right number of roving crews.“

Successful entries will be featured within an extraordinary 24hour online broadcast of live theatre taking place on Tuesday 21 June 2011, from 5pm until 5pm the following day.

These 24 hours will be filled with live performance, created by anyone for a worldwide audience of everyone.

Professional or not, old or young, absolutely anyone has been encouraged to take part by writing, devising, directing, performing and producing a piece of theatre, five minutes long.

There are no set skills requirements; no required qualifications other than a good idea, dramatic flair, and some bravery!

www.fiveminutetheatre.com contains up to date information including details on the selection process as well as regular features from the National Theatre of Scotland’s key creative team.

FOR FURTHER PRESS INFO/IMAGES/INTERVIEWS/FOOTAGE, CONTACT:

Wendy Grannon, Press Manager (maternity leave)

Tel: +44 (0) 141 227 9016 E: wendy.grannon@nationaltheatrescotland.com

Andrew Neilson, Press Officer

Tel: +44 (0) 141 227 9497 E: andrew.neilson@nationaltheatrescotland.com

NOTES TO EDITORS:

 1.The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government.  Since its launch in February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating over 137 productions in 125 different locations. With no building of its own, the Company takes theatre all over Scotland and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The company has performed to almost 600,000 people, across three continents.

2. The latest Five Minute Theatre news can be followed on Twitter: twitter.com/NTSonline and Facebook: facebook.com National Theatre of Scotland where participants can ask questions, share ideas and tips and connect with other theatre-makers.

3. Envirodigital is consultant producer for Five Minute Theatre http://envirodigital.com.  Envirodigital is a lighthouse brand, guiding the creative and digital industries in a sustainable direction through the use of digital tools and technologies. Edinburgh-based Envirodigital helps organisations create economically and ecologically sustainable digital developments. Envirodigital helped to establish the new National Theatre Wales’ digital and environmental policies, and is helping to ensure many Scottish organisations’ and events’ environmental sustainability through providing webcasting production and consultancy. http://envirodigital.com

MEDIA RELEASE posted by the National Theatre of Scotland. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.

Contact: Andrew Neilson
Phone: 07912540139
Email: andrew.neilson@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Website: http://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com