Everyone's got a story to tell

What's yours?

In our 20th birthday year and for the first time ever, National Theatre of Scotland is inviting you to share the real-life stories that you think deserve to be told on Scotland's stages.

We’ll create a shortlist from all the entries and then one incredible story will be selected by public vote and brought to life by a team of leading Scottish theatre artists, for public presentation in 2027.

Everyone has got a story to tell, what’s yours?

To find out more and submit a story, simply click the ‘submit a story’ button below.

What we’re looking for 

• Real-life stories rooted in history, place, or community.
• Personal or family stories that deserve a wider audience.  
• Stories that resonate deeply through humour, resilience, struggle, triumph or hope.  

Stories can be submitted in written, audio, or video formats, in written or verbal English, or in BSL.
 

Who can apply?  

This opportunity is open to anyone living in Scotland who has not previously been involved in professional theatre making or is undertaking training to become a theatre professional. We believe everyone has a story that deserves to be shared and welcome stories of all types, from all walks of life. You don’t need to have any experience of writing or amateur theatre-making to enter.

If you are an existing theatre-maker with a project idea and want to contact NTS about ways we can support you, you can find out more here.

Things to Consider Before Sharing A Story  

This must be a true story, and, if it is about living subjects, you must have permission to share it.  
 

If this is your personal story, please take care of yourself and the people included in the story by considering whether anyone would feel hurt in the telling of the story, or anyone’s reputation will get damaged.    

Are you happy for your story to be developed into a piece of theatre? If not, do not share your story with us.  

If you are under 18 years old, you will need a parent/guardian to sign consent for you to submit your story.  

We will only develop the chosen story.  We will not use any of the other stories submitted as the starting point for future National Theatre of Scotland productions. However, projects about stories that are already in the public domain that are submitted (but not selected) through True Story, may already be in progress or become commissioned by National Theatre Scotland in the future, regardless of your submission. 
 

Selection Criteria

A selection panel made up of National Theatre Scotland staff with external panel members as required, will review submissions before a shortlist is put to a public vote.

When deciding on a chosen story, the following questions will be used as guidance by the selection panel:  
 

• How excited are we about the story?  
• How unique or important does the story feel?  
• How well suited is the story as the basis for theatrical production?  
• How well do the selection of stories and applicants represent the diversity of Scotland.  

Please Note: If there are multiple versions of the same story submitted by different people, only the most compelling version will be shortlisted e.g  a historical story.

Tips For Submitting Your Story 

Before beginning, start with the basics.  Ask yourself:   

• Who is the main character and what’s their situation?   
• What do they want?   
• What gets in their way?   
• How does it all wrap up?   

For more tips read our Guide to Writing a Good Story below.

20 years of compelling real-life stories

Over the last 20 years, the National Theatre of Scotland has gained a world-wide reputation for turning compelling real life Scottish stories into brilliant new plays that have been shared with audiences in Scotland and beyond. 

The soldiers in the Black Watch regiment, deployed to Iraq in Black Watch.  The group of girls from Glasgow, who fought for their friend to be saved from deportation in Glasgow Girls.  The story of Adam who crossed borders and genders to find himself in Adam. The historical exploits of three Scottish medieval Kings in The James Plays. Or the story of Fred Goodwin and the rise of fall of RBS in Make it Happen.

All these exceptional stories have captured the imaginations of audiences over the last 20 years. And our 20th birthday programme also includes Stand and Deliver- The Lee Jeans’s Sit In which will bring the powerful story of the Lee Jean’s Factory workers to life in a new piece of touring gig theatre.