A 14-year-old playwright has won a national theatre competition.
Ella Thompson, a Year 10 student at Dorothy Stringer, won the National Theatre’s New Views competition for under-19s.
Her play, Carpe Diem, opened last week at The Shed in the National Theatre.
Richard Bradford, head teacher at Dorothy Stringer School, said after the show: “I could not believe such a mature and thought-provoking play could come from such a young student.
“I was stunned at the maturity of her observations and the quality and truthfulness of her writing. We are all very impressed and proud of Ella, and I am certain she has a very exciting writing career ahead of her. We wish her every success.”
Ella said: “Nine months ago my drama teacher introduced me to the National Theatre’s script-writing com- petition for young people, New Views.
“The first prize was amazing to say the least – having the script performed at the National Theatre and the Houses of Parliament.
“If someone had told me then that I would win, I’d have laughed! However, my 30-minute play Carpe Diem is being performed on July 11 and 12 at the National, and at Parliament on July 15.
“When coming up with ideas for the play I shifted about, but my mum sug- gested I write about what I know. I know about school, so I thought about past school events that stuck out in my mind.
“This helped me to come up with ideas for scenes. Once I’d planned out the order of my scenes, it was just about getting the dialogue right.
“When my first draft was completed, I tried to get as much feedback as possible. I asked for advice from everyone and I took it on. A second opinion is really the best thing I could have asked for.
“Ever since the beginning of the competition I’ve been reading and watching plays. I really enjoyed the performance of Simon Stephens’s Port, which I later performed in my drama exam. I’ve started to read other plays he has written and I feel they are perfect for young people.”
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