The Play's The Thing is a major new series that offers everyone who has ever dreamt of writing a play the chance to see their work staged in one of the West End's premier theatres.

London's West End theatres are famous throughout the world for their lavish musicals and revivals of classic plays. But to keep the West End healthy and vibrant, it also needs new plays, which often struggle to succeed in this high-risk environment. This is the challenge of The Play's The Thing: to find a new play and a new voice to enliven and invigorate the West End stage.

In April 2005, Channel 4 launched a nationwide search for a new play by a first-time playwright. Across four episodes, the series will follow novice writers through the process of selection and development as their play is considered for a professional production.

With support from a variety of theatre professionals, their ideas will be work-shopped and developed and ultimately one of them will see their play produced in a major West End theatre by top producer Sonia Friedman The programme will gain unprecedented access behind the scenes of commercial theatre, and follow Sonia and her team through all the steps of the production process right through to the glamorous opening night.

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iFilm Sonia Friedman talks about the first preview of The Play's the Thing