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For Students

Discover our tailor-made resources for students, inside and outside the classroom.

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Try searching by production title, playwright or location

Whether you are studying a play in class, in need of an audition monologue or are curious to learn something new, you are in the right place.

In this specialist section for students, you can learn about playwrights in interviews, listen to extracts of plays, explore plays in our production database, and find monologues.

Curious about a career in theatre? Find volunteering opportunities, placements and more from the National Theatre (located on the South Bank) and the National Theatre Archive (located next to the Old Vic Theatre on the Cut) – these links open in new tabs.

Want to know even more? Why not head over to That Black Theatre Podcast to learn more from PhD student Nadine Deller, who interviews everyone from playwright Roy Williams, to Black Theatre scholar Lynette Goddard.

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Explore interviews

Want to know more about a practitioner? Listen to them in interviews made specifically for the Black Plays Archive.

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Explore monologue resources

Need an audition monologue? Check out this variety of classic and contemporary pieces by Black writers.

Spotlight on: Winsome Pinnock

Born in North London, Winsome Pinnock is an award-winning playwright, academic and dramaturg. She has been celebrated widely for her work within the British theatre industry and has acted as a guide to many up and coming writers. In 1995, her play Leave Taking became the first play by a Black British woman to be staged at the National Theatre.

Her plays include: The Wind of Change at Half Moon; Leave Taking at Liverpool Playhouse Studio, the National Theatre, the Belgrade Coventry, Lyric Studio Hammersmith and Bush Theatre; Picture Palace for Women’s Theatre Group; A Hero’s Welcome for Women’s Playhouse Trust at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs; A Rock in Water and Talking in Tongues at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs; Mules for Clean Break on a tour of British prisons and at Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Magic Theatre San Francisco and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles; Water, One Under and How Long is Never? Darfur: A Response at the Tricycle; The Principles of Cartography at the Bush; Tituba at Hampstead; and Rockets and Blue Lights at the Royal Exchange Manchester and the National Theatre, and on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.