Following the tremendous success of our festival last year, we present Springboard 2024 - a week of one act plays, poetry, music and art, bringing together amateur and professionals in one space, with in house company performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external artists, musicians and theatre companies, poetry workshops and art exhibitions. 

We are also aiming to stimulate interest in community groups, for example artists, poets and playwrights, and are gently encouraging them to become members and part of the theatre family.

We have made the explicit decision to coincide Springboard 2024 with the Earlsdon Festival taking place on Monday 5th May.

Call for In-House Festival Plays

The in-house Criterion element of Springboard is the backbone of the Festival and last year we had some wonderful and thought-provoking productions including 'Wild Swim', 'Small Hours', 'Rebellious Sisterhood', 'Fast', and 'Exotic'.

We’re inviting submissions from Company members to a long list of easy-to-stage short plays (10 to 50 minutes) very broadly on the themes of ‘The day everything changed’ or ‘Who am I?’ and invite recommendations for consideration, both bare scripts and those with all or some of cast and director attached. Submissions can be overlooked classics or brand new writing.

The deadline for submissions and expressions of interest is midnight on Friday 17th November and submissions should be emailed to productions@criteriontheatre.co.uk. 

There will then be a selection process by the Festival Organising Group. Selection criteria will reflect artistic judgement, the need for a balanced season and the published values of the theatre. We will then need to ensure any performance rights are avilable.

EDI Assessment

The Criterion Theatre is committed to producing diverse and inclusive art and serving as a catalyst for community creation. Each day of the festival will see two or three acts of contrasting and complimentary genres. It will include drama, new writing, poetry and spoken word, multi-media perfomances and musical offerings, plus there will be accompanying art exhibitions and installations. There is an explicit intention within programming to include as wide a diversity of stories, and to be as inclusive, as possible.