If you have never been to a staged reading, tomorrow night is a good place to start. Imperfect Storms: New Work from East Anglian Writers lands at Norwich Stage Two on Thursday 22 October at 7pm, and it is exactly the kind of evening that rewards turning up without knowing what to expect. The premise is simple: a line-up of East Anglian writers bring pieces still in progress to the stage, presented with scripts in hand rather than fully rehearsed, so you are catching work that is very much still being shaped.
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The evening is put on by The Writers' Guild of Great Britain alongside Norwich Theatre Stage Two, and it is curated by writer-performer Stephen Keyworth, known as The Intellectual Hooligans, whose Radio 4 credits include The Princess Bride and The Man Who Fell to Earth, which picked up the New York Radio Awards Grand Tower Trophy in 2025. The writers on bill come from across the region and work in TV, film, theatre, radio, fiction, comedy, poetry and even video games, so the pieces are likely to be as different from one another as the writers are.
Stage Two is a 200-seat studio theatre at 42-58 St Georges Street, NR3 1AB, and it is fully wheelchair accessible. The whole thing runs for about two hours with an interval, and the age recommendation is 14 plus, so it is not one to bring very young children to. Tickets are cheap, ranging from £3.50 to £5.50, with a pay-what-you-choose option at those three price points, which makes it an easy one to drop into on a whim. If you are booking a larger block of tickets, Klarna is available for instalments on spends of £35 or more.
For anyone with access requirements, the venue is well set up. Captioned and signed performances in British Sign Language, audio described shows with touch tours, dementia friendly and relaxed performances are all on offer, and you can book them online through the MyTheatre Accessibility Scheme. The nearest Changing Places toilets to the Theatre Royal are in The Forum and Chantry Place.
It is worth knowing who is behind the curtain here, too. The Writers' Guild of Great Britain has been representing and campaigning for working writers since 1959 and is a fully fledged trade union, affiliated to the TUC and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds. Membership stood at 3,074 in 2024, with Eleanor Peers as General Secretary and Sandi Toksvig OBE as President. The Guild also puts on the annual Writers' Guild Awards, first handed out in 1961, and the Olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement Awards, which have been running since 2005. That same organisation runs the whole Norwich Theatre site, with the Theatre Royal, the Playhouse and Stage Two all operating under the Theatre Royal (Norwich) Trust Limited, a registered charity. Whether you are a regular theatre-goer or just fancy a cheap night out hearing work that has not been polished for a big stage yet, this is a low-risk way to support writers working right on your doorstep.
Published Date
21 October 2026
