https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2019/lyn-gardner-theatre-glorifies-the-young-but-it-really-needs-more-late-starters/
LG is so right about the hurdles for creative late-starters.
As a late-starter writer myself & someone who produces other writers' plays I'm constantly thinking about it ...

ctd/2 .. and I reckon it's about even more than the lack of schemes for late-starters/the oxbridge-stage prob/glorification of younger writers etc; it's more opaque than that & less obvious to those on the 'outside'. The new writing/theatre making scene is a culture unto itself .

ctd/3 ... It's a vibrant, hustly network of young makers collaborating & pooling creative & financial resources to get work on. Which is good, peer groups are crucial for creative health & creative opportunities, they're doing it themselves, with themselves, for themselves -

ctd/4 ... but it's what late-starters don't have; inevitable when you come to something late on, but often the 'make your own work' sub-culture isn't something late-starters are even aware of. They'll keep submitting to writing initiatives/applying to schemes and hoping ...

ctd/5 ... or if they do reach out to potential younger, creative peers they find that their ideas/processes/outlook aren't in synch with theirs. Sarah Frankom wants to make actor training more relevant to a changing theatre culture. It's already happened with young writers ...

ctd/6 .. & theatre makers who are making and drawing attention to their own work. They aren't waiting to be 'allowed', or to be picked. Late starter writers & theatre makers need to be exposed to this 'can-do' ethos and need the tools with which to be part of it.

ctd/7 More so, because younger theatre makers are also often the 'gate-keepers' to the new writing scene (scratch nights/new writing events). They're making their own work, plus they're organising & making the work of others and the tendency will be to make what resonates ...

ctd/8 ... with their own lives; what's important to them at their life stage. I'm not saying younger gate-keepers never look beyond themselves, they do, but having produced new writing events for 10 yrs & attended hundreds of them, the concerns of the work ...

ctd/9 ... are largely in synch with the age group of the organisers. This bit is important because it's through these types of events that many writers get noticed, hook up with directors & producers or find representation ..

ctd/10 .. if late starters can't even get their plays on here, who will see their work, and how will they ever get them on the main stages? If you start young, are good and get the right breaks you might get there. But early circumstances preclude so many people ...

ctd/11 ... and so late-starters also need to be better equipped with the knowledge of how to navigate their late start.