Reading of Plays for Springboard Festival 2026

On Thursday 15th January at 7:30pm, we will have a reading of the plays which have been submitted for selection for the Criterion plays within Springboard Festival 2026.

Since the Summer around 12 emerging local writers have been meeting fortnightly to workshop and develop original short plays for Springboard Festival. This reading is an opportunity for an open sharing of their work, offering a chance to hear the works read aloud, share constructive thoughts with the writers in a friendly environment, and make some decisions about which plays will be taken forward for performance in the festival. 

We encourage anyone who would like to be involved in actually reading the plays, as well as people who like to hear plays read aloud. In addition, we particularly encourage potential directors for the Springboard plays to attend. We welcome experienced directors, as well as this being a perfect development opportunity for new and emerging directors, for which mentoring will be offered. 

Do come along and join us. If you are able to contact artisticdirector@criteriontheatre.co.uk to indicate you are coming along, this would help with planning the reading. 

What is Springboard Festival?

The fourth Springboard Festival will be bigger and better than ever. 

Eight evenings of fabulous and varied entertainment in the form of short one act plays, poetry/spoken word, music, film, literary discussion and visual art. The festival brings together amateur and professionals in one space, with in-house Criterion company performances and community/Criterion collaborations alongside external artists, musicians and poets from Coventry and Warwickshire.