open submissions festival | 2025
Rhys Warrington
writer: Monument
ROYAL COURT THEATRE
MONUMENT
WEDNESDAY 9 APRIL, 19:45
By Rhys Warrington
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
APR, 8, 2025
With the eyes of the world watching, a Welsh farming community gathers to vote on whether or not to build a Memorial. But what does this Memorial commemorate? Why is it so contentious? And how, when the time comes, will you vote?
Part fiery town hall debate, part relationship drama; Monument is an epic examination of a rural community (with all its eccentricities and humour) dealing with an unprecedented event.
The inaugural festival runs from Monday 7 – Saturday 12 April in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs.
Hi Rhys, it’s so great to talk with you ahead of this years inaugural Open Submissions. What was the first thing that came into your head when you found out Monument was selected for the festival?
Utterly, UTTERLY, thrilled! This’ll be the first time I’ve heard the play aloud which, although also slightly terrifying, will be such a special moment. And, to have it read at the Court, by the insanely brilliant people we’ve assembled, is an extra THRILL. I feel like a kid at Christmas.
Any nerves ahead of the festival?
ALWAYS! But most of all I feel excited. I’ve been working on the play, on and off, since 2022 and to get the chance to finally free these characters from my brain (and the page) and allow them to exist in full three-dimensional glory is going to be utterly exhilarating.
How important are opportunities like the Open Submissions Festival in providing a platform for new writing?
So important, especially in the current climate. New writing is risky and we’ve seen, over the last few years, the industry contracting. It feels like the number of new plays being produced each year has reduced – as theatres/producers (somewhat understandably maybe) favour revivals or adaptations or even (whisper it) American work (although I’m not really complaining about that because American drama is my obsession). Therefore to get the opportunity to have work staged, to create energy and buzz for a new play, it, well, it really means the world to me as a playwright. Also, and I think we forget this sometimes, plays are there, plays are written, first and foremost, to be performed! By actors. For an audience. And I think that’s what makes the Open Submissions Festival extra special.
Monument was also shortlisted Papatango Prize 2024, the BOLD Playwright Award & longlisted for the Verity Bargate Award. What has it mean to you to get such recognition for your writing?
THE WORLD. Writing a play is hard, HARD work. It requires, not only hours and hours of staring at a blank screen but, also, for you to really dig deep inside yourself. And then, once you’ve done that, once you’ve got something, you then need to refine, refine, refine. It’s a long LONG process. And therefore when you’ve done the thing, sent it out, all you can hope for is that somebody will read it, like it, that it’ll speak to them. The thought that Monument has done that, well, it means everything.
"The characters in this play are a combination of people I know, people I think I know, people that I want to be. But they are also…a fiction."
Can you tell me how Monument came about, what inspired this new play?
The short answer is, the village where I grew up! I’m obsessed with it and wanted to find a way of putting it, or a version of it, on stage. And I also knew that I wanted this community to be dealing with something enormous, life-changing, devastating. These are ordinary, everyday people, who have been thrown, headfirst, into a nightmare. They are rooting around in the dark, trying to make sense of the world they now occupy, whilst at the same time, desperately seeking some semblance of normality.
What where the biggest challenges you faced writing Monument?
The bulk, meat, of the play is a ‘town hall debate’. It’s 7 characters, one question and a plethora of views. Navigating each of these individual arguments, keeping all 7 characters active in the one space AND then making the thing work as a whole has been hugely challenging.
Do you every draw inspiration from you own life and lived experiences when writing or creating characters?
All the time, yes. The characters in this play are a combination of people I know, people I think I know, people that I want to be. But they are also…a fiction. When creating characters I kind of throw everything into the mix. Then, overtime, they begin to start talking to me, they begin (I think to quote Tennessee Williams) to emerge from the fog. And now, several drafts in, well, sometimes I forget that I’ve made them up. I adore them. I love them. And I can’t wait for you to meet them.
What has the experience been like working with your director Blanche McIntyre?
I mean, there’s a reason why she’s one of our best, right? Blanche is a dream! So smart. Curious. Warm. Kind. I instantly felt that the play was in such safe hands with her and I can’t wait to watch her work her magic in the room.
What has been the best piece of advice you’ve got as you started your own journey in theatre, and paying it forward what advice would you offer fellow theatre makers?
Keep going. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. Never surrender.
Be kind. Be curious. And remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint.
And finally, what would you hope your audiences will take away from Monument?
I hope it makes them think about the world. Their place within it. And I hope, I really hope, it makes them call, speak to, reach out to the people they love as they’re reminded that life is short and we never know what’s waiting around the corner.