Submissions Now Open For MTFESTUK 2026!

The Other Palace has announced that submissions are now open for the 7th annual MTFestUK 2026, which will showcase six new musicals over a three-week period from 27 January – 15 February 2026 in The Other Palace Studio.

MTFestUK is a unique festival that provides a platform to showcase and celebrate new musical theatre. Six pieces at various stages of development will be selected from the open submission process, and their creative teams given an opportunity to workshop and present their work in ‘sharing’ sessions to audiences.

Writing teams from all backgrounds and from across the UK and internationally are encouraged to apply. MTFestUK aims to support innovative and exciting musical theatre, especially from underrepresented backgrounds, allowing audiences to come and support, explore, engage, and enjoy musical theatre in its earliest stages of development. Each piece will be cast and rehearsed, before holding four sharing performances in workshop format, open to audiences.

Musicals previously showcased at MTFestUK that have gone on to have a future life include:

Nerds by Hal Goldberg, Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner;

ROMY AND MICHELE The Musical by Robin Schiff, Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay; Tit Swingers by Abey Bradbury and Sam Kearney-Edwardes; Bling by Elliot Clay and Tori Allen-Martin; A Jaffa Cake Musical by Sam Cochrane and Rob Gathercole;

Come Dine With Me by Aaron King, Sam Norman, Nell Butler and Genevieve Welch;

The Government Inspector by Jodie Prenger, Neil Hurst, Cat Gisby and Maxwell Tyler; Sherlock Holmes and the Poisonwood by P Burton-Morgan and Ben Glasstone;

Cake: The Marie Antoinette Playlist by Jack McManus, Tasha Taylor Johnson and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm; Millennials by Elliot Clay; Eurobeat: Pride of Europe by Craig Christie; But I’m a Cheerleader by Bill Augustin and Andrew Abrams; First Date by Austin Winsberg, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner.

Paul Taylor Mills, Artistic Director for The Other Palace said: “It’s hard to believe that MTFestUK is back for the 7th time! What a journey it’s been - and how many exciting, ground-breaking new pieces have had the chance to be trialled, developed, and go on to find a future life beyond the festival. Today, I’m thrilled to open submissions for MTFestUK 2026 and encourage creatives from all backgrounds, both across the UK and internationally, to submit their new work. Every work-in-progress deserves a safe space to grow and be explored, and MTFestUK remains a vital platform for discovering and supporting new voices - and for helping to shepherd some truly remarkable pieces of theatre.

To submit your show for consideration, please follow the link: https://theotherpalace.co.uk/mtfestuk-2026-submissions/.

Submissions close on Sunday 28 September 2025, 6pm.