The submissions deadline for National Theatre of Scotland’s Five Minute Theatre initiative is fast approaching: Friday 25 March, 2011.

Ideas have been flooding in 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.

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 can 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!

Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, National Theatre of Scotland explains:  “We’re using our 5^th birthday as an opportunity to offer audiences a chance to share their creative talents.  On June 21^st, we’re going to stage live, online, 24hours of non-stop 5 minute theatre – created by anyone, for everyone!

“Your five minutes can be filled with whatever you want it to be, whatever ‘theatre’ means to you. You can write your own script, create a scene or a situation, it can have music or dance, a director and actors, props and costumes or something no one has thought of yet.

She continued: “You can interpret this in any way you like, any style you like. It can be a thriller, a drama, a romance, a monologue, anything. It can be on a stage, in a living room, a park, village hall, community centre, library, office, class room, football pitch – the choice is yours.

“You are in charge.  You decide what your five minutes are; you decide where to perform it, how to cast it and who the audience will be. It’s your story; however you want to tell it.”

Ideas can be submitted at www.fiveminutetheatre.com

www.fiveminutetheatre.com also contains up to date information including clear instructions and details on the selection process as well as regular features from the National Theatre of Scotland’s key creative team offering tips, advice and classes on how to make and deliver a piece of theatre.

There are three ways that Five Minute Theatre pieces will be shown online as part of the final event on 21 June:

1. Pre-Recorded
Pre-recorded performances sent to the organisers in advance of broadcast day. Ideal for everyone, but particularly useful for those with more complicated ideas, time constraints, international entries and those of a nervous disposition.

2. Live on the day 1
Organisers can send a roving crew to online broadcast theatre pieces live on the day.  Ideal for simple ideas, those comfortable performing, those in a location with a broadband connection, and if there is more than one group performing.

3. Live on the day 2
Successful applicants can visit Scottish broadcast ‘hubs’ to online broadcast theatre pieces live on the day.  Ideal for simple ideas, those who can travel easily to the designated ‘hubs’ and those without the means to record their own performance.  Hubs will be available in Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The selection process includes a number of key dates:

25th March – Closing date for all submissions

18th April – Successful entries confirmed

20th May – Running order, filming schedule and final entries announced

21st June – Performance day

Source: National Theatre of Scotland