Doctor Foster creator Mike Bartlett is nurturing the next generation of playwrights at Hampstead Theatre.

The Eton Avenue venue may be closed due to Covid but it is launching two spring initiatives including IGNITE, a free youth project for Camden teenagers, and Writing The Bigger Picture - a paid playwrighting programme to help emerging talent develop work for larger stages.

Ham & High: Playwright Mike BartlettPlaywright Mike Bartlett (Image: Supplied)

Both will run alongside the existing INSPIRE writers group led by Roy Williams whose plays includes Sucker Punch and Death of England: Delroy.

Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre said: "Now more than ever we need to support our communities and industry against the devastating impact of this pandemic. I hope these two new initiatives will provide a collective space for some joy and creativity as well as offering a framework for experience and opportunity. We are so pleased to have Mike Bartlett lead this unique new writing programme, which aims to support talented writers whose experience has been limited to studio spaces to explore writing new plays for large stages. Likewise, we are pleased to launch our new youth project within our local community. Whilst a lot of the world has been driven indoors and online, it feels important to connect with a generation isolated during such formative years to offer a creative space for expression and experimentation."

Currently under commission to Hampstead, Bartlett, whose plays include Chariots of Fire and King Charles III, will offer workshops and one to one mentoring online for the Writing the Bigger Picture project starting in March. Up to 10 UK writers with at least one play produced can apply for a place. Each will be paid £1,000 to take part.

IGNITE a youth project for 13-17 year olds living in Camden will culminate in a short film of devised work this summer.
Meanwhile the current group of INSPIRE writers will produce a rehearsed reading of their first full-length play, online to an invited industry audience, to mark the end of the year-long programme.

Ham & High: Playwright Roy WilliamsPlaywright Roy Williams (Image: Supplied)

The deadline to apply for Writing the Bigger Picture is Feb 18 details from https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/