Never Give Up – Every mother thinks their kid’s got talent.
Nigel Davenport is a playwright who has been entering the Short Cuts Playwriting Festival for years. He’s never won, in spite of submitting hundreds of plays. When Nigel gets a call from Artistic Director Todd Sparks, he thinks his luck has finally changed, until he meets with Todd and Todd tells him that they’d like him to stop submitting to the Festival because he’s a terrible playwright. In fact, three members of this year’s reading committee resigned, two were treated for depression and one committed suicide all because of Nigel’s plays. But instead of giving up this only inspires Nigel to try harder and figure out how to write an award-winning play that will win the festival.
10 Minute Comedy – 2M, or 1M & 1 W, single setting
“A cheeky story that kept raising the stakes to side-splitting consequences, about a playwright who just won’t give up. Performances from the leads were solid and kept you invested in the outcome till the very end.”
Olivia Farag
Reviewer for What’s on Sydney, 2020
“The mismatch of expectations between a terrible writer and a kindly producer, combined with tragedy, make for a poignant comedy.”
Philip Fisher
Reviewer for the British Theatre Guide, 2018
“Every playwright will appreciate the premise of this little gem from James Hutchison. And we’ll all secretly hope that we’ve progressed a little bit beyond Nigel in our playwriting careers. Smartly observed and penned with pathos. A cringeworthy classic, in the best comedic sense!”
Warren Paul Glover
British-Australian writer, actor and director living in Sydney.
CAST of CHARACTERS
Nigel Davenport – a Playwright
Todd Sparks – Artistic Director Short Cuts Festival
The part of the Artistic Director can be cast as female and the name changed to Trudy.
SETTING
A Theatre
TIME
The Present
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
2020 – Short+Sweet Sydney – Sydney, Australia
2020 – 2nd Place Tie Judge’s Choice – Short+Sweet Sydney – Sydney, Australia
2020 – 3rd Place People’s Choice – Short+Sweet Sydney – Sydney, Australia
2020 – Short+Sweet Dubai – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2020 – Short+Sweet Sarjah Festival – Sharjah Fringe, Masrah Al Qasba, Sharjah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2019 – Longlisted – Cast Iron Theatre – Twelfth Edition of Short Plays, Brighton & Hove, United Kingdom
2018 – Short Listed – 10: Ten Theatre Festival – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2017 – Third Place tie – Pint Sized Play Festival – Best Script as judged by the audience on the night – Fishgaard, Wales, UK
2017 – Acme Theatre Productions New Works Winter Festival – Maynard, Massachusetts, USA
2017 – Top 25 Finalist: Birdhouse Theatre – Edge Fest – Milledgeville, Georgia, USA
2017 – Short Listed – Short+Sweet Sydney – Sydney, Australia
2016 – 14th Annual North Park Playwright Festival – San Diego, California, USA
2016 – 6th Annual Ten Minute Play Festival, Seoul Players – Seoul, South Korea
2016 – Finalist Rover Dramawerks 10 Minute Play Contest – Plano, Texas, USA
2016 – King’s Shorts Festival of Ten Minute Plays – Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada
NOTABLE PRODUCTIONS
2018 Edinburgh Fringe – Bite-Size Plays presented Never Give Up along with fourteen other plays as part of their very popular The Big Breakfast Show in the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe. The Big Breakfast Show is a daily offering of free coffee, strawberries, a croissant and five short plays. There are three different menus that run in rotation and Never Give Up was part of Menu 1.
Never Give Up had its world premiere in 2016 at the King’s Shorts Festival of Ten Minute Plays in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, Canada. The production starred Simon Bonnington and Blaine Schumacher and was directed by Ron Wesman.
