Attention

The deadline has been extended to 23:59 31st July 2022. Please refer to the dates on the right of the page.

Playhouse 2023

We are seeking adventurous and imaginative Oxford-based directors to pitch for our next show at Oxford Playhouse in 2023.

This is an exceptional opportunity for anyone seeking directing experience in a mid-scale professional theatre.

Previous directing experience is necessary, but we will consider all kinds of directing experience, including university productions.

We are actively seeking to broaden our pool of directors, and are keen to talk to people who have never directed for Oxford Theatre Guild before, in particular people from the Global Majority.

For an informal conversation about this opportunity or to discuss any potential ideas you have for a pitch, please email the Secretary at secretary@oxfordtheatreguild.com and we'll get back to you to arrange to chat about what you have in mind.

Please read the Pitch details document for more details.

Further information

Working at the Playhouse is, as we are sure you can appreciate, the biggest challenge of our theatrical year and a hugely rewarding experience for everyone involved. The first step in that is choosing the right play and director.

What kind of plays can I pitch?

The Playhouse's programme is unlikely to be open to adaptations of 19th century English novels; otherwise, the field is wide open. However, we In putting on plays in this venue over the last six decades, OTG has run the gamut of English theatre from Chaucer to Stoppard, as well as international playwrights, such as Chekhov. Thus you can be as creative as you wish in your pitch ideas. One of our aims this year is to encourage more diversity both in terms of playwrights and subject and this important initiative is central to our mission.

Cast

In terms of cast size, there are no hard and fast rules. However we are a large company with many talented actors and it is desirable to offer a reasonable number of roles for what is the highest profile production of our year. It is also worth noting that the committee will be looking to appoint a director with some experience (though not necessarily with OTG) – the Playhouse is not the place for a first-time director!

Dates

Our production slot be in mid-March 2023.

Sets

Since 2020 we have not had the benefit of the use of a full-scale set construction space, so we will need to work with substantially more limited set building resources than we have become used to! We are asking potential directors to have these things in mind when looking at pieces they might wish to pitch.

New writing

Please note that OTG has a separate new writing review and submission process: all new scripts should be submitted in full to the committee via pitches@oxfordtheatreguild.com well in advance of any pitch deadline to be considered for production. Additionally, we ask that a director who is not also the author be nominated for such productions.