The Boiler Room
2023 saw a process of development and growth for us at Peripeteia Theatre Company. We now felt in a place to support artists with their own creative practice and development.
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The Boiler Room servers as our community outreach programme and its inspired name comes from The Boilerhouse Theatre which situated in the Egham Campus Royal Holloway, University of London. To pay homage to our training and the seedling of our company.
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The programme’s initiative is both an online and in person format for script readings, workshops, masterclasses, mentorship, discussions and a safe space for theatre artists to share their work. The price of this programme will be free as costs saw during the cost of living crisis. We hope it is a place where artists feel comfortable to take risks and invent something new with the support of the members of Peripeteia Theatre Company. There is also the opportunity for scripts to developed into future Peripeteia productions.
The Weight of Being Forgotten
by Brooke Hadfield
Key Information:
When - Saturday 11th April
Location - In-Person (Salford)
Time - 2pm
Deadline to express your interest Friday 3rd April.
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Short Synopsis of Script:
Set in a shared house, this play follows a close-knit group of friends in their twenties as they navigate being young and the conflict of new relationships.
Throughout, Grace struggles with deep insecurities and obsessive thoughts of death.
As tensions rise, miscommunication and emotional neglect fracture the house dynamic. Through overlapping dialogue, awkward silences and intimate monologues, this play explores how our anxieties or emotional burnout can quietly chip away at our relationships. It captures the pain of growing apart and the lingering question of what remains when the people who made you feel seen begin to look elsewhere.
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Content Warnings:
Strong Language and references to suicide/death
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Character Breakdowns:
Grace (Female. Play age: Early 20s)
Quick-witted and always speaks her mind. Grace has a fear of being forgotten. She struggles to cope with being a young adult: finding a job, finding motivation etc. This manifests in addictions such as alcohol, over-sleeping and Mira.
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Grace is, ultimately, a character who loves deeply but fears that love is conditional — and this fear shapes every choice she makes.
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Mira (Female. Play age: Early 20s)
Optimistic, emotionally open but oblivious. She just wants to live her life, undisturbed. She’s happy in her current situation and is afraid that if she lets go of love, she’ll never find it again. So she clings to it - even if it costs her.
Mira is not careless or cruel; she is human. She wants to be loved, and in reaching for that, she learns how fragile love can be.
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Annie (Female. Play age: Early 20s)
Light, perceptive, generous. But she fears being seen as disposable or unimportant. She worries that she’s too much, or not enough or just… nothing. She’s not the brightest, but has an unwavering love and loyalty towards her friends.
Annie is the emotional barometer of the house — when she goes quiet, the audience knows something has been lost.
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Harriet (Female. Play age: Early 20s)
Grounded, practical, contained. She quietly carries the house. But fears being the last one holding everything together when she should have let go a long time ago. She always puts others first, but this causes emotional burnout and caretaker fatigue.
Her arc is not about dramatic change, but about acceptance: accepting that she cannot hold people together at the cost of herself.
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Wine boy (Male. Play age: Early 20s)
Gentle, awkward and quietly sincere. He is an unnamed character as he represents the new and unknown, as well as Grace’s refusal to accept change or addition. He is misunderstood and lonely, having never had a support system. Once he meets Mira the hole in his life is filled.
Wine Boy embodies the ache of wanting to belong somewhere that isn’t built for you — and the quiet courage it takes to keep trying anyway.
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Therapist (Male or Female. Play age: Mid 30s)
The therapist that deals with it all.
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How to apply?
Please send your acting CV/Spotlight pin to Peripeteiatheatre@outlook.com with 'The Weight of Being Forgotten' and the role in which you are applying for in the subject heading of the email.
Due to the nature of this project this is an unpaid opportunity.
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Deadline to express your interest Friday 3rd April.
We've Found Your Son
by Joe Henry-Evans
Key Information:
When - Wednesday 15th April
Location - In-Person (Salford)
Time - 6pm
Deadline to express your interest Monday 6th April.
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Short Synopsis of Script:
Steven has been missing for five years.
Today is his first dinner back with his family.
His mother, Kathleen, is nervously preparing the dinner, determined to have the ‘perfect’ evening, and she will do anything to make sure her boy never leaves home again. Nothing will tear her family apart ever again.
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Content Warnings:
Grief, abuse, addiction, murder, blood, death, prejudice, suicide, and generational trauma
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Character Breakdowns:
Kathleen Longworth (Female. Play age: 40s)
A working-class mother of two from Salford. Kathleen is a complex woman; her cold persona masks past trauma that is slowly bubbling to the surface.
Tony Longworth (Male. Play age: Mid 40s to early 50s)
Kathleen’s husband, father to Steven and Christine. Tony is a typical bloke from the 1970s, but with far more secrets than the average father.
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Christine Longworth (Female. Play age: Late teens)
A hard-working, downtrodden girl at sixth form college. Often the butt of the joke from her parents, Chrissy’s had enough of their bullying.
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​Ivy Dewhurst (Female. Play age: Early 60s to Mid 70s)
Kathleen’s mother. Ivy wasn’t always the best parent to Kathleen and her siblings. She now lives with her daughter and her dysfunctional family.
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How to apply?
Please send your acting CV/Spotlight pin to Peripeteiatheatre@outlook.com with 'We've Found Your Son' and the role in which you are applying for in the subject heading of the email.
Due to the nature of this project this is an unpaid opportunity.
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Deadline to express your interest Monday 6th April.