Rochdale teenagers pick out top writers

A group of teenagers selected the winners of a top writing competition run by Rochdale's leading theatre group 'M6 Theatre Company'.

M6 consulted more than 100 of the area's youngsters to help them decide the winners of their prestigious monologue competition, Small Change.

Dot Wood (MBE) Artistic Director of M6 said: “Teenagers are more astute than people give them credit for. They know what they like and it’s not always what you’d expect. This can be seen in the quality of the five powerful monologues that they selected, which range from issues such as Internet Grooming to Domestic Violence.”

The teenagers helped select five winning North-West based writers, who each won prize money of £600 and will now see their monologues published and go on tour around the North West before going into schools to stimulate debate.

One of the winning writers, Billy Cowan from Levenshulme, said: “I was so thrilled when I found out I’d won. The monologue was written for teenagers so I’m so glad it connected with them.”

Small Change will be shown in Rochdale at the M6 Studio Theatre on Tuesday 8 July, 7pm (contact 01706 355898), before continuing its tour in Bury, Kendal, Lancaster and Oldham.

The monologues will be performed by North West based actors including Luke Walker from Littleborough and Michael Hugo from Todmorden. They will be directed by Chris Bridgman from North West Playwrights.