Five years ago, in 2015, we joined forces with Tonic Theatre, a fantastic organisation working to address the gender imbalance and achieve gender equality in theatre, to create and publish Platform: our series of plays for all-female or mainly female casts, commissioned specifically to be performed by young actors.
The initiative has been a huge success, with hundreds of performances of the plays having been staged around the world. As two new plays join the series – bringing the total to seven – Tonic director Lucy Kerbel reflects on how Platform came about, its impact so far, and why the continued demand for these plays shows why they are still very much needed…
Five years on since Tonic launched Platform, there are now seven titles in the series – with two new plays, Bright. Young. Things. by Georgia Christou and Heavy Weather by Lizzie Nunnery joining the line-up this month.
All the plays are published by our partners Nick Hern Books and the reach they have had has been extraordinary. Platform plays have been performed by schools, youth theatres, colleges, universities, drama schools, and community theatre groups the length and breadth of the UK. They’ve also found their way on stage in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand and the USA.
Production photos of Platform plays, clockwise from top-left: The Light Burns Blue by Silva Semerciyan, performed by Elmwood School, Ottawa, Canada; Red by Somalia Seaton, performed by Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, USA; This Changes Everything by Joel Horwood, performed by Bath Spa University; Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy, performed by Arts University Bournemouth; The Glove Thief by Beth Flintoff, performed by Solihull School, Solihull; Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy, performed by Youth Theatre Masquerade, Msida, Malta
In fact, we worked out recently that a Platform play was being performed somewhere in the world every five days. That’s a huge achievement. It’s testament to their quality; all Platform playwrights have experience and a proven commitment to writing for younger people. They all wrote their plays informed by time spent with young actors as part of the development process alongside input from teachers and youth theatre directors about what makes plays both attractive and practical for young people.
The success is also a reflection of how much Platform is needed. Tonic initially launched the series having conducted research that showed us the majority of young people taking part in youth drama were girls, but the scripts they were working on were, in the main, written to be performed by men. Not only were there not enough roles for everyone who wanted to play a woman, but the girls and young women we met during our research told us the few that were out there tended to be ‘bit parts’ or what, to them, felt like hopelessly outdated stereotypes of femininity that they struggled to connect with.
We wanted to remedy this by providing a regular flow of new plays that responded to the young women showing up in school halls, drama studios and community centres week after week; to reward their commitment and provide material that lets them grow their skill through roles and stories that are demanding, complex, and fun to perform.
Members of the National Youth Theatre performing readings at the launch of Platform at the National Theatre Studio, London, in 2015 (photo by Nick Flintoff)
Most of all, we wanted young people to see that young women’s voices and experiences can be placed centre stage and can make for hugely compelling drama. Platform plays are all big, ambitious pieces dealing with topics as varied and chunky as grief, sedition, climate crisis, post-capitalism and information overload. They all somehow (and this is testament to the writers’ skill) do so in a way that is hopeful, often funny, and ultimately empowering.
The fact that all of them locate girls and young women at the centre of these big topics, and that demand for them has been so extraordinary, is evidence of how much Platform remains necessary. It also creates fire in our bellies to find the next brilliant plays in the series.
Matt Applewhite, Managing Director of Nick Hern Books, on Platform’s role in helping drive forward necessary change…
In the seven years since Lucy and I first began talking about Platform, the world has witnessed enormous change. In some ways for the better; in many ways not; and in others which we’re only starting to grapple with – and not before time.
Platform has and will continue to play its part in driving forward that change, with creative ambition, open-hearted optimism, and far-sighted political purpose. It’s an honour to publish and license the plays, amplifying and giving voice not just to their writers’ remarkable words, but also to the thousands of young women (and men) who have performed them around the world.
These seven fantastic plays would sit proudly on any stage, and are proof (not that any more is needed) that theatre for young people is a force for urgent, positive change. I encourage – urge – you to read and perform them.
The seven Platform plays so far
Nick Hern Books is proud to publish and partner with Tonic Theatre on Platform. Seven plays in the series are now available to read and perform – see more about each via the links below.
- Bright. Young. Things. by Georgia Christou
- The Glove Thief by Beth Flintoff
- Heavy Weather by Lizzie Nunnery
- The Light Burns Blue by Silva Semerciyan
- Red by Somalia Seaton
- Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy
- This Changes Everything by Joel Horwood
The Platform plays are also licensed for performance by Nick Hern Books; visit our website to start your licence application.
The Play Ground 