ABOUT FIFTH WORD

We are an award-winning theatre company based in the East Midlands, founded in 2007. We develop and produce vital new plays that change how people see the world. We make work with and for younger audiences (age 14-25) and under-served communities: uncovering the stories that need to be told. 

Our shows tour across the UK. They are always powerful, bold and accessible. They amplify the stories of those who often go unheard or easily slip through the cracks in society. We collaborate with a range of communities who do not always see the arts as for them: empowering them to tell their own stories through different artistic means. Our community projects connect closely with our productions; everything we do is driven by the desire to foster creative ambition, develop new talent, and platform under-represented voices.


We are passionate about contributing to a strong new writing culture in the Midlands, and helping to discover and develop the next generation of talented playwrights in the region. We produce plays by the most exciting playwrights of the moment, both from the Midlands and from across the UK. We develop a thoughtful, rigorous, and bespoke process with each writer we work with, to ensure that these stories reach the stage in their full power.

“Winning the Writers’ Guild Olwen Wymark Encouragement Award for developing new writing gave Fifth Word national recognition. Its nurturing of this play is exemplary”

The Stage

“An extraordinary achievement of writer, director and actors… deeply affecting work on a too-urgent subject”

Exeunt on ALL THE LITTLE LIGHTS

“Harrowingly good… Observations of the dehumanising influence of the sex industry do not come much sharper”

The Guardian on AMATEUR GIRL

“Seamlessly yokes the personal to the political in sparkling dialogue”

The Telegraph

“Believable, powerful and quite genuinely heart-breaking”

Fest Mag on BONES

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