A PLAY written by a Southall teenager is to be performed in Parliament, the first time a production has been staged in the institution’s 900-year-old history.
Tosin Omosebi, 17, has won the National Theatre’s New Views playwriting competition with her 30-minute play Re-Write, which was chosen from a total of 175 submissions.
It will be performed by professional actors in the historic surroundings of Westminster Hall on July 11 as part of the Arts in Parliament programme.
The darkly comic drama is set in a psychiatric hospital and tells the story of two people convicted of murder, who are about to have lives ‘re-written’ by doctors.
Tosin, who attends Greenford High School, said she was inspired to write the piece after watching a performance of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ at The Young Vic theatre in central London.
She said: “I wrote the play because, after studying it in philosophy, I got interested in what motivates people to commit crimes and whether they can really change.
“I definitely didn’t believe my teacher when he told me I’d won. I was one of the last people to find out.”
Counting F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger among her favourite writers, this is the first play Tosin has written. She said: “It’s definitely something I’d like to do again. I’m working on something right now for The Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith.”
Nicholas Hytner, director of the National Theatre and one of the judges for New Views, said: “Tosin is a real writer. Her play crackles with excitement and is wonderfully ambitious. She is confident enough to play with theatrical form, and she has something to say. I’m sure she has a future as a playwright.”
For more information about the competition, visit the website www.parliament.uk/new-views.
