Talented local creative scoops the top spot in Blackpool’s power plays playwriting competition

Blackpool’s The Old Electric is charged with excitement to announce talented local writer Lindsay Bennett-Thompson as the winner of the theatre’s very first Playwriting Competition which ran as part of its pioneering POWER PLAYS Festival.

Lindsay’s inspiring new work Bluebells and Dirty Nappies will be showcased at The Old Electric on Saturday 27 July as the climax to the innovative Power Plays Festival, which launched earlier this year to support new writing for the stage. The exciting new literary competition invited creatives to submit original scripts which will help to switch the established narrative of Blackpool and play a part in the positive creative revolution of the region.

Lindsay Bennett-Thompson is a Blackpool-based actor, writer and artist. Alongside her work as an actor in Coronation Street, Vera and Truelove to name just a few; she is most recognised for her fearless screenwriting, with her most recent collaboration with acclaimed director Paul Holbrook on the short film Boys Like You currently screening at International Film Festivals.

Bluebells and Dirty Nappies is set between North and South Pier on Blackpool Beach. Two volunteer litter pickers spark an unusual friendship. With one of them desperate to hold onto life (Norma) and the other running away from it (Chrissa), these two women are an unlikely pair as they navigate two very different paths across one stretch of golden sand…

Lucky audiences will also hear selected scenes from the three runner-up plays at the showcase on Saturday 27 July, along with the culmination of The Old Electric’s Writer-in-Residence Martha Pailing’s musings from her time spent at The OE, which centre around loneliness and laughter, connection and community, in a night of creative celebration which will also feature a post-show Q+A with winning writer Lindsay.

On Friday 26 July the three runner-up plays - The Seagull Has Landed by Michael Davies, The Dreamer by Jake Wolf and The Queen of the Sun by Leah Philbin - will be fully brought to life by four actors and a director in a thrilling script-in-hand read through. Selected scriptwriters Rachael Thomasen, Sarah Green, Adam Martin-Brooks and Beth Mullen will also be offered the amazing opportunity for one-to-one mentoring by acclaimed playwrights Simon Stephens (Punk Rock, The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night-Time) and Nick Wood (Warrior Square, A Girl With A Book); renowned literary manager, critic and Dramaturg Frank Peschier, and Artist Development Manager at Factory International, Punam Ramchurn as a result of the Power Plays writing competition.

The Old Electric Artistic Director and creative heart of The POWER PLAYS Festival, Melanie Whitehead, said: “It was such a joy and a privilege to, alongside the other judges on the panel, read the plays that were submitted to the Power Plays writing competition. This is our first year of programming this festival and I was blown away by the quality and diversity of the writing; we had submissions from across the UK from London to Edinburgh but over half came from FY postcodes and the majority came from the North West. There were a huge range of themes considered in relation to the interpretation of the town; from turkey & tinsel to talking seagulls and from drag queens to mermaids - such a great insight to how people are wanting to frame Blackpool through a new lens which is exactly what we’d hoped for. I can’t wait to get stuck in with casting and rehearsing now and to bring some of these works to life onstage!”

The Old Electric – Community, Creativity, Culture…

Friday 26 July at 7pm – POWER PLAYS Playwriting Competition Scratch Plays - The Seagull Has Landed by Michael Davies, The Dreamer by Jake Wolf and The Queen of the Sun by Leah Philbin. Tickets £5

Saturday 27 July at 7pm – POWER PLAYS Playwriting Competition Winning Play - Bluebells and Dirty Nappies by Lindsay Bennett-Thompson plus Post show Q&A. Tickets £10

For further information and bookings please call The Old Electric on 01253 834175, or visit www.theoldelectric.co.uk/powerplays