The Stage

Kenwright, Margolyes and Letts lined up for Sky Arts’ Stagestruck

Published Thursday 8 September 2011 at 10:20 by Matthew Hemley

Producer Bill Kenwright, actor Miriam Margolyes and Daily Mail critic Quentin Letts have been unveiled as the judges for the Sky Arts series Stagestruck, which will give one amateur theatre company the chance to perform a play in a West End theatre.

As revealed by The Stage in April, the series will follow eight companies as they compete against each other for the prize of appearing at a London theatre, by performing scenes from well-known plays in front of the three judges.

The judges will whittle the eight companies down to one over three knockout rounds, with the winning company having eight weeks to rehearse a play to perform in the West End, at a yet to be disclosed venue.

Margolyes said: “I wanted to be a part of anything which encourages theatre. We are lucky enough to earn our living doing what we love. It’s a chance for me now I’m 70 to share what I know. And it will be fun.”

According to Sky Arts, 50 groups auditioned to be part of the series, with the winning eight this week revealed as Bingley Little Theatre, Edinburgh Grads, FissiParous Theatre, Heath Players, the Regent Rep Theatre Group, Strathclyde Theatre Group and Tell Tale Theatre Company.

For the first of the three knock-out rounds, the groups will be split into two, with four of the companies performing a scene from a comedy, and the other four performing one from a drama or tragedy.

From here, four of the theatre groups will make it through to the semi-finals, where each one will perform a scene from a Shakespeare play. Only two groups will be selected by the judges to go to the final stage of the competition, which will see the remaining two companies choose a scene from a play of their choice. The judges will then choose one group to perform an entire play in the West End.

The production that the winning company will perform in the West End will be chosen for them according to “their strengths”, Sky Arts said. Stagestruck will be broadcast in summer 2012.

¥ Comedies from Life of Riley creator Georgia Pritchett and stand-up comic Jason Cook are among the six scripts that have been selected as part of the BBC’s first Salford Sitcom Showcase.

As revealed by The Stage, both independent comedy suppliers and producers from the BBC’s comedy department were invited to submit scripts for the festival, which is aimed at giving BBC controllers the chance to consider new projects for development.

Pritchett has penned a comedy called Up! about students for BBC3, while Cook’s comedy, which he is working on with Baby Cow, is called Hebburn, also for BBC3. Other writers selected include Tony Sarchet, who is working with Hat Trick Productions on a show called Sandwiched for BBC1, and Pippa Evans, who is working with the BBC’s comedy department on Be Our Guest.