Royal ExchangeTheatre

Media Partner

A message fromMichael Oglesby,Chairman ofBruntwood andmember of the judging panel

It is with considerable excitement, and some apprehension, that I open the new shortlisted plays for each year’s Prize. This is mythird time on the judging panel and I have learned over the years,as someone not regularly reading new plays, to read slowly and,at the very least, twice.

Both we at Bruntwood and the Royal Exchange, are delightedwith the way in which the competition has grown from relativelymodest roots to now being established as the premier prize fornew playwriting in the country. This is not only evidenced by thenumber of plays that we have received this year, well over 2000,but also by the quality of the scripts. We can also now look backat previous years and see just how successful we have been inestablishing the winners as important new modern playwrights.

This year we are also delighted to be welcoming our new mediapartner The Times. This relationship has proved to be a very realpartnership with real benefits for everyone.

The most exciting part of the Bruntwood, as with anyworthwhile creative exercise, is the total uncertainty involvedwhich adds hugely to the tension and the enjoyment and we lookforward to sharing this with you.

Michael Oglesby CBE DLChairman, Bruntwood

After an unprecedented year ofproductions and our largest evernumber of entries, we are delightedto introduce the ten writersshortlisted for this year’sBruntwood Prize for Playwriting.The Bruntwood is Britain’s biggest playwriting competition, witha prize fund of £40,000 from which four awards will be made towriters on this shortlist: a first prize of £16,000 and three judges’awards of £8,000 each.

These four plays will then be developed towards production bythe Royal Exchange, with leading theatre publisher Nick HernBooks offering publication should they be produced.

30,000 audience members have seen Bruntwood winning workthis year, with the Exchange producing Vivienne Franzmann’sMOGADISHU and Andrew Sheridan’s WINTERLONG inManchester and in London. We can’t wait to develop this newcrop of plays and see more work from the competition on our stages.

The Prize is a result of a longstanding partnership betweenManchester property company Bruntwood and the RoyalExchange and has this year welcomed a media partner in The Times newspaper, who we are delighted to have involved in the competition as it grows.

The Artistic DirectorsRoyal Exchange Theatre

A message from theChair ofthe JudgesThe gesture ofdelivering a play tobe read by otherpeople never stops

terrifying me. But writers need terror. It gets usout of bed in the morning. More than 2000 peoplehave undergone the terror of entering their playinto this competition this year. 1990 of them willhave been bruised by the disappointment of notmaking the short list. There is only one thing theymust do: write another play. And then another. Andthen another. And not stop until they’ve proven usall wrong.

The energy and urgency of the response to thisyear’s competition is indicative of the intellectualand imaginative vitality coursing through thecountry. At a time of such economic nervousnessand political dislocation the confidence of thatvitality is astonishing. The shortlist crystallises that vitality.

Janice Galloway observed that writing is likewaving. We write in the hope that somebody willwave back. The financial support and access to sucha driven working theatre that the award gives thewriters is exceptional. But more important thanthat is the consoling gesture of a wave beingreturned that each of these writers has been given.

Simon Stephens, Playwright

“Winning the Prize hasmade me a writer.” Vivienne Franzmann, author of MOGADISHU

“Being one of the winnershas meant that I trustmyself as a writer – a

playwright.” Naylah Ahmed, author of

BUTCHER BOYS, a winner in 2008

© sim

onkanephotography.co.uk 2008MOGADISHU by Vivienne Franzmann, a winner in 2008

Harry McEntire and Gabrielle Reidy inWINTERLONG by Andrew Sheridan, a winner in 2008

Tunji Kasim and Matti Houghton in THE CRACKS IN MY SKIN by Phil Porter, a winner in 2006

They split us up. Sent us all over. Twenty-three in mygroup…We lived in a room together, dying, and nowI’m the only one left. Then I met her. And I like her. And I’m staying.

When Piret wakes one morning with a Russian strangerin her bed, her flat and family are thrown into confusion.It’s 1989 and Soviet Estonia is crumbling around her andher son Tonü. With a husband whose disappearance theauthorities won’t explain, Piret embarks on a campaignto find out the truth, whilst Tonü makes friends with thestranger who’s come to stay.

Tim Luscombe trained as a director at the Bristol Old VicTheatre School. Directing credits include: The Merchant of Venice & Volpone (Lyric Hammersmith/World Tour); Artist Descending AStaircase (Helen Hayes New York/Duke of York’s London); When SheDanced (Kings Head London/ Playwrights’ Horizons New York);Easy Virtue (Garrick); Snow Orchid and Salvation (both at the GateLondon); The Browning Version & Harlequinade (Royalty), IntimateExchanges (Scarborough/59E59, New York). Tim started writing fulltime six years ago. Productions of his plays include: EuroVision (DrillHall/Vaudeville); The One You Love (Royal Court/Barracke Berlin); The Death of Gogol and the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest (DrillHall); The Schuman Plan (Hampstead), Hungry Ghosts (Orange Tree),and adaptations of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

A Map of the RegionTim Luscombe

A working time machine?Definitely.What have you done with it?N…Nothing.Nothing?It just…sits there.

Nineteen year old science genius Luke is holed up in adingy flat on a near-abandoned Middlesbrough housingestate. He finally has some peace to work on theextraordinary box in his living room. But when he’sintroduced to a wealthy out-of-towner by hisunbalanced brother Rob, tensions build and a battle is set in motion that threatens to tear the brothersapart and unleash the power inside his invention.

Alistair McDowall is a writer from the North East of England.Previous plays include Plain Jane, Some Stories, 5:30 and eighteenstupid reasons why i love you lots and lots. He has been a writer-on-attachment at the Royal Court Theatre and is currently onattachment with Paines Plough.

Brilliant AdventuresAlistair McDowall

Britannia Waves the RulesGareth Farr

I joined the army because I couldn’t get a job on civvystreet, couldn’t get one, didn’t want one. I didn’t want toget stuck in a down, brown, empty old town, I didn’twant to be working for the weekend and wasting theweek. I wanted more.

Dirty old Blackpool is the dead end that Carl needs to escape. It’s the home of his broken father, old pubsand the boys who sell drugs from the British Legion.The army and Afghanistan offer him the chance to beanything he wants, but it’s a bargain that brings himback to Blackpool a different man.

Gareth Farr has been working as a professional actor for the past eleven years, with the RSC, the Royal Court, Young Vic and in the West End. He has been part of the Royal Court WritersProgramme and Super Group and had worked developed andperformed at The Green Room Studio Theatre in Manchester.Gareth has also written for the Tristan Bates Ignition scheme andhas since been invited to develop his work for them into a fullproduction. Britannia Waves the Rules is his first full length play.

Climbing SnakesCurtis Cole

Things will change in Moss Side when they move MaineRoad. You two want to get yourself a trade. Plumber,electrician, build web things for computers. Make somereal money.

It’s 1999 and the summer of the United Treble, Daryl’scome out of prison and he’s got plans for the gangwho’ve been waiting for him. As Moss Side heats upand United keep winning, Daryl’s ambition hits thestreet corner and pulls him and everyone around himtowards a danger he can’t control.

Curtis Cole is an actor based in Manchester. He has numeroustheatre credits performing up and down the country at the WestYorkshire Playhouse, Royal Court London, Birmingham Rep, IpswichWolsey as well as going abroad to the Sydney Opera House. He hasalso been a regular feature at his local theatre Contact. It was at theContact where his writing career began, he was young writer inresidence in 2005 completing a one hour play Face Front. Since then he has been a regular winner at Contact's monthly scriptcompetition Verbally Challenged and was co-writer of ActionTransport’s play Night Train which had two successful schools tours.Climbing Snakes is his first full length play.

I And The VillageSilva Semerciyan

So maybe I just want to opt out, you know? Maybe Idon’t want to be part of the master plan. The bigassembly line in the sky…You know what? The bottomof the lake is the only place I’m entitled to be.

Van Vechten is a small American town in SouthwestMichigan. It’s Aimee’s home, but something has set heragainst the community, at odds with her mother, thechurch and sometimes with the world. As outsidersinvestigate what happened on the day she brought agun to church, we follow Aimee around the town thatshe wants to escape.

Silva Semerciyan is a native of Michigan; she moved to the UK in1998. While at university, she wrote Another Man’s Son which wonthe 2010 William Saroyan Prize for Playwriting. Her other stageworks include Full English and Reality, a satirical musical for which shewrote the book and lyrics. In spring 2012, her short play, Stalemate,will be presented at the ReOrient Festival in San Francisco. Sheholds a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MPhilin Playwriting from the University of Birmingham. She currentlylectures in Drama and English in Bristol.

Today’s gone a bit different, hasn’t it? When we werewaking up this morning didn’t think for two secseverything would blow up like this. Ka-boom. Bloodybrill. Stop looking at me like I’m crackers.

Jamie is Alice’s first boyfriend and she couldn’t behappier. Their dates in the park are everything thatshe’s dreamed of, but no one’s sure how Jamie feels. It’s up to jealous Fi and his sister Liv to stop him frommaking a fool of himself, because everyone knows thatAlice is crazy.

Miriam Battye grew up in Manchester and has been a theatrelover her whole life. She started writing bad poetry during herteenage years before trying her hand at writing for stage. At the age of seventeen she was accepted onto The Twelve playwritingprogramme at the Royal Exchange and since then has written avidly.Currently studying at Bristol University she has been lucky enoughto have her work staged in productions and rehearsed readings ather university union in Bristol and the Bristol Old Vic Basement.She is also a stage technician and aspiring director.

I Started A FireMiriam Battye

Arms pumping, legs working, body-swerving, zigzaggingacross the corridor. Stay focused, the race is not won…Ifit's gonna happen, let it happen behind me. I don’twanna see it coming.

Tjay and George are growing up in a hectic world,making plans for the future and chatting up girls, untilone moment on the street after school everythingsuddenly stops. As Tjay replays things in his head andworks out what to do next, the gun that killed Georgebursts into life and his grandma sits at home waiting forhim to come back from school.

Cornell S John’s film credits as an actor include: Curtis in the hiturban youth dramas, Kidulthood and Adulthood. Glenstorm in TheChronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian and Lawrence in the soon to be released Dreams of a life. Some of his West End theatre creditsinclude: Javert in Les Miserable, Crown in Porgy and Bess, Horse inThe full Monty, and he originated the role of King Mufasa in The LionKing. He played Satan in Steven Berkoff's Messiah, Malcolm X in TheMeeting and Clay in Dutchman. Born in Handsworth, Birmingham,One Look is Cornell’s first stage play and was written in response to the challenges facing young people today.

One LookCornell S John

I have to explain it to you. That’s me in the middle. Then there’s me Nanna and me Grandad, yeah…Then there’s me mam up there. And you.

Katie is eleven, watching films after tea and learningshadow puppets from her grandad. But somethinghappened in the past and it’s not gone away. Katie’smother is dead and her father’s in prison and she’sstarting to act up. It’s for her grandparents to decidewhether she should meet the man who changed herlife forever.

Louise Monaghan has just received her first commission for BBC Radio 4’s Afternoon Play. Directed and produced by JessicaDromgoole, Alone in the Garden with You will be broadcast nextsummer. In 2006, Louise was nominated by The Bush Theatre forThe Fifty, a new writing initiative run by the Royal Court inconjunction with the BBC. Her play Beautiful, was nominated byOut of Joint for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2009. She was afinalist for both The London Fringe Festival’s Theatre Writing Award2010 and Little Brother Productions Big Opportunity 2011 withher play Aurora. She lives on the South Coast with her husbandMike. They have two sons, James and William, and a Lakeland terriercalled Bruce.

Shadow PlayLouise Monaghan

At first, I wouldn’t have thought anyone was in. Yourcurtains. The way you have them drawn. You alwayskeep them like that?

Tiana’s in charge at home. She’s got to look afterbrother Tionne and little sister Tanika. As theynegotiate school and cooking at home, somethingstrange is going on. Their mother has gone andTionne’s experiments are getting stranger and stranger.As the outside world starts to ask what’s happened,Tiana tries to keep the siblings together, even when ateacher comes to call.

Janice Okoh was born, raised and lives in South East London. Shehas a background in law and worked in the city for 7 years. She hasbeen writing in one form or another since she was 14 years oldwhen she used to dream of becoming a romantic fiction writer.Her first play was written in 2008 as part of an MA in CreativeWriting from the University of East Anglia and has yet to beproduced. Three Birds is her second full-length theatre play. Janicehas had work produced for radio and currently teaches English as a Foreign Language.

Three BirdsJanice Okoh

We used to make things here. Be proud of things…No one repairs things anymore. No one keeps things.Everything has to be shiny and new. Don’t matterabout quality or whether it will last.

Derek and Molly have done alright, they have abusiness, a son in the army and their youngest, Danny, is just about to start work with his old man on anapprenticeship. But Derek's been hiding letters by thehundred, Danny has a new girlfriend he won't bringhome and a Canadian businessman has put in an offeron the business that Derek isn't telling the lads about.As the fractures in the family start to appear Derek isforced to decide whether the past is more importantthan the future.

Kenneth Emson was born in Essex in 1983. He has written manyplays for fringe venues in London as well as having work premieredat the High Tide, Hot Ink, Hotbed, Latitude and Pulse theatreFestivals. In 2008 he took part in the Old Vic 24 Hour Play eventand has continued to work with them through their US/UKExchange and Ignite programmes. He is currently one of the BBCWritersroom 10 (with the Old Vic as his partner theatre) and the2011 BBC Writers Academy.

WhiteKenneth Emson

Sarah Frankcom is a theatre director and joint Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre. Her productions for this Theatre includeBEAUTIFUL THING, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE,WINTERLONG and PUNK ROCK.

Sue Johnston is one of the country’s most widely acclaimed actresses. Her work includes numerous film, television and theatre creditsincluding THE ROYLE FAMILY,WAKING THE DEAD, JAM & JERUSALEM and THE STREET. She was made an OBE in 2009.

Jackie Kay is an award-winning poet, novelist and playwright. Her books include THE ADOPTION PAPERS,TRUMPET and her memoir RED DUST ROAD, which has just won the Scottish Book of the Year award. She was made an MBE in 2006.

Michael Oglesby is Chairman of Bruntwood, one of the leading commercial property companies in the North of England. He currently splits his timebetween his role of Chairman and his extensive involvement in civic and charitable interests. Michael was made a CBE in 2011.

Maxine Peake is one of the most respected actresses in the UK. Her work on stage includes THE DEEP BLUE SEA and THE CHILDREN’SHOUR and on television includes SILK, CRIMINAL JUSTICE and SHAMELESS.

Simon Stephens (Chair) is an Olivier Award-winning playwright. His plays include WASTWATER, PUNK ROCK, HARPER REGAN, ON THE SHORE OF THE WIDE WORLD and MOTORTOWN. He is Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith.

Judging Panel

The Times is absolutely delighted to be supporting the Bruntwood. We arecommitted to covering the theatrical waterfront in our arts pages andwebsite, giving the talented up-and-comings a leg up as well as applaudingand critiquing the established names. This award gives us an opportunity toget involved in the theatrical process from the get go. We’re very excitedabout what and who we might find.

Nick Hern Books is one of the UK’s leading independent theatrepublishers and performing rights licensors. Founded in 1988, NHBnow has over one thousand plays and theatre books in print, withauthors including Caryl Churchill, Declan Donnellan, David Edgar,Tony Kushner, Conor McPherson, Terence Rattigan, StephenSondheim, Enda Walsh and Harriet Walter. NHB is proud tosupport work by new and upcoming playwrights including debbie

tucker green, Steve Waters, Fin Kennedy, Chloë Moss, Jack Thorne, LucyKirkwood and Sam Holcroft, and has published four winners of theBruntwood Prize (Vivienne Franzmann, Ben Musgrave, Fiona Peek andAndrew Sheridan).

Partners

“ I don’t think there is another company that equals Bruntwood in their support of the arts...”

A rich and vibrant cultural life doesn’t just come about by accident. It needs planning for and nurturing. It also needs investment.

Bruntwood is a Manchester-based, family-owned property company of over 35 years’ standing. We

into our communities every year, by supporting arts and charities in the cities where we operate.

We have always tried to use our cultural investment to help push artistic boundaries, allowing new

their creativity – The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is one such endeavour.

We are delighted to have played our part in giving artists of

ladder of creative success and send our warmest congratulations to all the short-listed participants.

Andy Sheridan Joint winner of the 2009 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting

For the Ceremony:

Host: Dave HaslamFilmmaker: Misfit Films misfitfilms.co.ukTrophy Design: Nicola DaleActors: Annie Fitzmaurice, Tony Hirst, Reuben Johnson, Gerard Kearns, Craig Morris, Joe Ransom, Katie West, Susan Wokoma

For the Royal Exchange:

Production Manager: Helen GortonNew Writing Associate: Sam Pritchard

For Bruntwood:

Marketing Manager: Sally Hill

For Press Enquiries:

Jane Acton or Amy Barder at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 jane@colmangetty.co.uk / amybarder@colmangetty.co.uk

With thanks to: Michelle Hickman, Dawn Walton, Max Webster, Joel Fildes Photography, Jonathan Keenan Photography, OH Digital, Toasted Productions, We Are Young, the Production and Marketing Departments at the Royal Exchange and all our nineteen readers for the competition. Registered Charity Number 255424

Royal Exchange Theatre, St Ann’s Square, Manchester

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