Out of the Margins - Top Playwrights' Auction for Refugee Artists

L-R:Richard Curtis, Caryl Churchill, Wole Soyinka. © Good Chance.

Good Chance Theatre present ‘Out of the Margins’ hosted by The Auction Collective in collaboration with Christie’s.

Out of the Margins is an online three-week timed auction hosted by The Auction Collective from 15 September - 6 October 2023. A free exhibition of selected texts will be on public display from 20 to 28 September 2023 at Christie's Auction House in St James’s, London.

Fifty of the world’s greatest playwrights are to auction their work to raise money for refugee artists. Good Chance Theatre have today announced some of the biggest names in British Theatre who are to take part in a charity auction in aid of refugees in the UK.

L-R: Jez Butterworth, Inua Ellams, Tanika Gupta. © Good Chance.

Tom Stoppard, Wole Soyinka, Caryl Churchill, David Hare, Jez Butterworth, Richard Curtis, Tina Fey, Tanika Gupta, V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Inua Ellams are just some of the 50 leading playwrights who are donating annotated first and special editions of play texts and musical scripts to be auctioned in support of refugee artists in the UK for the Out of the Margins Auction organised by Good Chance Theatre, hosted by the Auction Collective, in collaboration with Christie’s.

Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard. © Good Chance.

The 50 annotated texts being auctioned in aid of refugee artists include some of the world’s best loved theatrical productions such as Leopoldstadt, Jerusalem, Prima Facie, The Vagina Monologues, The Doctor, Closer, The Empress, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Play What I Wrote, Wicked, Jerry Springer: The Opera, Mean Girls and Matilda the Musical. Each text has been annotated by hand, giving unique insight into the writer’s creative process, and reflections, memories, thoughts and feelings since, often in a highly personal and intimate way.

The Theory of Everything. Anthony McCarten. © Good Chance.

The Out of the Margins auction represents the largest collection of annotated play texts and scripts in theatre history, providing an unprecedented record of the private thoughts and feelings of some of the world’s greatest living contemporary playwrights, covering some of the most significant moments in the last fifty years of theatre. Out of the Margins brings these texts together for the first time, providing a unique opportunity for members of the general public, theatre lovers, and collectors alike to bid for a piece of theatrical history.

The proceeds of the Out of the Margins charity auction will fund Good Chance Theatre's work supporting refugee artists in the UK. Since it was founded in the Calais Jungle refugee camp 8 years ago, Good Chance Theatre (which does not receive public subsidy) has provided 250 refugee artists with 1-2-1 support in the UK as well as placing over 750 artists from refugee and migrant backgrounds in paid employment and training. Good Chance Theatre runs several full-time programmes supporting migrants and refugees in the UK including the Good Chance Ensemble, a programme which tackles barriers to entry for refugee artists in theatre and art today through various projects including:

Exhibition Details:

Dates: 20 – 28 September 2023

Address: 8 King Street, St. James's, London SW1Y 6QT

Entry: Free

For more information on how to register to bid and take part in the Auction from 15th September, visit https://theauctioncollective.com/auctions/out-of-the-margins