Literary

In 2000 the Drum Theatre began to establish itself as a full-time space committed to producing and presenting the most exciting and original plays, physical and visual theatre for Plymouth and the South West.  In 2002 and again in 2005 the Drum was nominated for the Peter Brook Award, a national award for innovative theatre spaces which is awarded by a panel of the country's leading theatre critics.

We produce both new and established writers who have something to say about the current world around them and can challenge our ways of thinking.  The Drum's flexible space has been used to create eye-catching, ambitious and passionate pieces of work.

In recent years we have commissioned and produced new plays by Ash Kotak, John Davies, Christopher William Hill, Alex Johnston, Judy Upton, Anthony Neilson, Laurence Allen, Doug Lucie, Nick Field, Gary Owen, Anita Sullivan, Simon Turley, Charles Way, Nick Stimson, Nick Discombe and Chris Goode. We have also premiered new plays in co-production by Snoo Wilson, Moira Buffini, Philip Osment, Ken Harmon, Abi Morgan, Isabel Wright, Gregory Burke, Brendan Cowell, Emma Frost, Jack Shepherd, Philip Ridley, Debbie Tucker Green, Mark Schultz, Simon Bent, Mark Revenhill, Rona Munro, Robert Farquhar, and Bryony Lavery. 

The co-producers have been some of the country's leading theatre companies and innovators including Hampstead Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Bush Theatre, Theatre Alibi, Frantic Assembly, Traverse Theatre, Paines Plough, Edinburgh International theatre, Royal Court, ATC, Suspect Culture & Lyric Hammersmith.

The Drum has a number of on-going commissions with playwrights at any one time, along with development grants to help newer writers develop an idea to an early draft.