Summer Shorts (2025)

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Poster by Guy Jones

Ten pieces of new writing, produced / curated by Guy Jones, Kelly Q and Tom Mathias

Compere - Tom Mathias

Performances: Tuesday 5 to Saturday 9 August 2025, Old Fire Station

Our annual new writing vehicle comes racing into town once again, with 10 x 10-minute plays on the theme of "Scale".

Preview from the SLT website

What's the process for putting together the Shorts?

(Guy) There’s an open call for writers in the spring, this year on the theme of “scale”. (Anyone can submit a script – you don’t have to be a member at SLT, but no-one is paid for their work.) Writers then register their interest and are informed of all the conditions of submission; one of these is to submit an anonymous script following a consistent formatting, so that when we’re reading them, all scripts look the same and we don’t know who they’ve come from.

The reading panel – of five people this year, including ourselves – then gives each one a score out of 10 and submits comments, which then help us draw up a shortlist of 15 or so; in turn we finesse that to the final 10 following a table-read in the SLT Bar.

What do you think makes a good Short?

(Kelly) A good Short grabs your attention quickly and leaves a lasting impression. With nowhere to hide, the writing and performances need to be sharp, honest, and bold. Strong stories with well-developed characters are especially compelling – they often leap off the page.

This year’s theme of “scale” has inspired wildly different interpretations, from the intimate to the epic, and it’s exciting to see how imagination thrives within the short play format and new writing at SLT.

Can you pinpoint reasons why scripts didn't make the initial cut?

(Tom) When it came to cutting plays, it wasn’t without a bit of ‘fighting’ among the five of us. I judged the plays on the metrics of “who / what / where” and “why do we care.” I was looking for distinct characters and clear relationships in relatable situations, and texts which fell short on those criteria got my lower scores.

We all felt confident at the end of the process that the plays chosen for the shortlist had a clarity in what the writer was sharing with the audience, which was delivered in a way that left an impression on us.

How do you put the actual show night together?

(Guy) At the table-read back in May, the assembled audience of members and guests voted on their favourites and as a panel we took this advice on board when making our final choices. Part of deciding our final 10 isn’t, at that stage, so much about how good we think the short plays are, but which ones would comprise the best bill in terms of variety of subject matter, genres and cast sizes. We want to try to maximise the chances of an enjoyable evening out at the theatre for everyone, whatever their personal taste.

Auditions quickly follow, also open to all, and the Shorts are a great way of helping new actors dip their toe in the water without the commitment and pressure of a full-length show. Volunteer directors then sweat (literally this summer!) to bring the works and actors to the stage, working in tandem with the writers as necessary. In the week running up to performances, the entire cast finally comes together to run the production as a whole, incorporating all the technical components. In short, we set out to take you on a rollercoaster ride through the peaks of high comedy and the depths of drama, and deposit you at the end of it all with an evening measuring high on the entertainment scale.

Once again this year, we’ll be asking the audiences to vote for their favourite Short over the course of the run, with the winner being announced after the Saturday night show and winning a modest cash prize.

Please sum up each Short in under 10 words...

In running order:

  • How To Audit Your Dragon – Tax deductible fantasy assets; heed the word of the iScroll
  • The Enthusiast – Is it horny or Hornby, you decide
  • What If We Were Not Measured – A siren’s warning, a woman’s story
  • Flat – Selective hearing leads to dissonance
  • You Ask Yourself Am I Happy? – …And realise it’s a numbers game
  • Too Much For One Goddess – The trials of being put upon a pedestal
  • The Scale-Up Guy – Is dating a good meal spoiled?
  • A Sense Of Scale – An epiphany in the key of me
  • With You All The Way – A male friendship of mountainous meaning
  • Big Ed’s Big Show And Even Bigger Prizes – If Bob Monkhouse had lived in the 23rd century

How To Audit Your Dragon

by Oneikeh Campbell

Directed by Daniel Cox

The Enthusiast

by Eddie Coleman

Directed by Lisa Thomas

What If We Were Not Measured?

by Flora Blissett

Directed by David Chappell

Flat

by Kate Lynn-Devere

Directed by Oliver Forrest

You Ask Yourself, Are You Happy?

by Rebecca Simon

Directed by Barry Heselden

Too Much For One Goddess

by Marilyn McCaughan

Directed by Jack King

The Scale-Up Guy

by Penelope Lipsham

Directed by Flora Blissett

A Sense Of Scale

by James Taverner

Directed by Cal Beckett

With You All The Way

by Joe Dominic

Directed by Lisa Thomas

Big Ed's Big Show And Even Bigger Prizes

by Joe Reed and Matt Prestage

Directed by Guy Jones

Crew

Special thanks to

All the writers who submitted their work, all our directors, The Hope pub for additional rehearsal space,the actors who auditioned, our table-read play readers, Cal Beckett, James And The Giant Peach cast and crew, and of course all the wonderful SLT volunteers behind the scenes, front of house and on the bar who make our shows possible.

New writing prize

In 2023 SLT benefitted from a kind bequest, which specifically provided the funds for a cash prize for an annual play-writing competition. The Summer Shorts immediately suggested themselves as the best platform for this competition. Each night audiences were asked to vote for the best writing they had seen.

The 2025 winner was James Taverner for A Sense Of Scale.

Winners of this annual competition are listed on the New Writing Competition page.

Gallery

Find more show photos here
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