Evolution Festival 2023: Scratches

Both the 2023 and 2024 cohort of trainees from the Lyric’s SPRINGBOARD programme will present brand new 10-minute scratch performances created entirely by them. One of these scratch ideas will be awarded the Bill Cashmore Award and will go on to be developed into the headline play for Evolution Festival 2024.

About the Bill Cashmore Award: 

The Bill Cashmore Award enables young and emerging artists to transform a fledgling idea from the page to the professional stage. Run in conjunction with the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, the Bill Cashmore Award is open to submissions by writers, directors and performers between the ages of 18 and 25, who live or work in West London. The Award provides a unique opportunity to learn theatre from the inside out; to experience what it is to produce a play to a professional standard; to develop skills in a supportive and encouraging environment; and to have a springboard and a calling card to get started in this most challenging of industries.

Award founder, Sasha Bates, set up the Award in 2018 after the tragic, sudden death of her husband, actor, playwright, director and entrepreneur Bill Cashmore. She wanted to keep Bill’s memory alive by honouring his love of theatre and offering something of his spirit of inclusion and opportunity to those who may otherwise struggle to get a foot on the theatrical ladder.

The aim of this award is that it should provide an opportunity for someone to whom it might not otherwise be available, to help that person to find their voice and learn to express it through the medium of theatre, and to thereby create an outstanding piece of theatre.

It further aims to promote new writing and progressive ideas; reflect something of the inequality of the world around us; be experimental in concept and execution; foster new learning; promote integrated ways for collaborating; and most importantly provide a platform to those who deserve to be heard but are often overlooked.