Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) acting student, Loresa Leka was one of 8 playwriters shortlisted out of 400 entries for the National Theatre’s ‘New Views’ competition 2022. 

Loresa, who studies Acting Level 3 at RuTC was encouraged by her teacher to submit an entry to the National Theatre’s annual ‘New Views’ playwriting competition for young people aged 14 – 19. 

Teapot Troubles is based on true experiences and stories passed down through Loresa’s family, experienced during the 98-99 Kosovan war. 

Loresa’s parents make up two of the members of her family that became refugees of the war and have since passed down stories and anecdotes of their experiences during that time. 

Jane Swift, Acting teacher at RuTC and Loresa's teacher, thought the playwriting competition would be a fantastic opportunity for her students to get involved in, as practical experience in their acting journeys. 

Loresa knew she would base her script on her family’s experience of war to educate and share her story with others. 

Teapot Troubles features five characters who each illustrate stories from different perspectives of the same time. 

Loresa explains, “What I found most challenging was incorporating these stories into one, as there are so many people and intertwining stories involved. I was originally going to write it as a patchwork of stories from one character’s perspective, but thought it was more meaningful to create a variety of relatable characters instead.” 

Teapot Troubles was one of eight shortlisted plays out of 400 entries from all around the UK, and the play will receive a professional rehearsed reading in the Clore Learning Centre at the National Theatre in July 2022. 

‘New Views’ is a National Theatre initiative to encourage and empower young people to tell the stories that matter to them, as well as conveying the power of theatre to create a place of community and a shared experience of storytelling. 

Jane Swift was overjoyed at Loresa’s accomplishment, remarking “I am very proud of the fact that many people will be able to have and share some understanding of what this situation was in the 1990s. It is really important that at this time we share what happens in parts of the world that we may not necessarily experience or even have any knowledge about and to teach our students that peace is a privilege and peacekeeping a challenge within certain power structures that we cannot take for granted.”

Update: As of 10/11/22 the National Theatre have asked for Loresa’s play 'Teapot Troubles' to be professionally recorded for the National Theatre.