The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting searches for new stories to develop for the stage.
We are delighted to launch and open to entries for 2022. The biennial prize – which seeks scripts from established, emerging and debut writers to develop…
During our submission window, we are going to be releasing lots of new resources to support you to get your play ready to submit for the 6th June deadline. To see all our archive of learning resources- please click the ‘Inspiration’ button on the header menu
We are so delighted to be able to return with the 2022 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. The Bruntwood Prize is about so much more than the competition – we want to support people to try writing for the first time, explore their creativity, to not give up when things get tough – to keep going and submit their play for the 6th June deadline.
We recognise that the last two years has been an incredibly difficult time for everyone. When theatres closed and we could no longer enjoy the inspiring experience of sharing stories together, many writers found it hard to be creative. Would theatre ever come back? What would it look like when it did? Can I still be theatrical and creative if I can’t share stories live with an audience of friends and strangers?
There are so many huge questions to ask before you bring yourself to writing. But maybe this makes writing even more important. Humanity, in many ways, has been through a visceral experience of crisis. We need art and stories and shared experiences to help us make sense of what we have been through and our place in the world.
So we want to find ways to support you to get those ideas out, tell us those stories, find those characters voices and build the theatrical world of your work. We are so excited to be able to bring back three distinct series of work to support you:
Dramatists Toolkit- Series 3
The first two series have proved really popular so we are excited to return with a series of blogs, workshops, provocations and other written content to support you on your journey to writing a play for the Bruntwood Prize. To get you started we’ve launched with
Coming up in the next 10 weeks we are delighted to have contributions from past Bruntwood winners Kendall Feaver (THE ALMIGHTY SOMETIMES) and James Fritz (PARLIAMENT SQUARE) whose contributions have been so popular in the past as well as Bruntwood Prize shortlisted playwrights such as Eve Leigh and Sami Ibrahim. We are also excited to have new contributions from artists such as Tabby Lamb and Luke Barnes.
These will be released every week on a Wednesday at 10am so pop them in your diary now and check them out! We hope they will inspire creativity and spark your imagination.
Our live-stream workshops
We are back with some amazing practitioners offering their insights and experience. Streaming live here on writeaplay.co.uk, all you need to do to join is click onto the website homepage for the start time. We will also edit and caption workshops to archive here on the site one week after the livestream.
6th April- 6pm-8pm Nicola McCartney
This will be followed by a workshop with the wonderful playwright, director and dramaturg Nicola McCartney who has supported the journey of so many of the country’s most respected playwrights. Nicola was Artistic Director of lookout Theatre Company, Glasgow from 1992-2002, and has twice been an Associate Playwright of Playwrights Studio Scotland.
8th April 6pm-8pm -Ola Animashawun
We will also feature live-stream workshops with Ola Animashawun, National Theatre Associate and Connections Dramaturg and the co-founder and Creative Director of the playwriting consultancy, Euphoric Ink. He is also a former Associate Director of the Royal Court Theatre.
5th May 6pm-8pm- Morgan Lloyd Malcom
Then we’ll join the phenomenal Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, whose play EMILIA took the West End by storm (before COVID) and whose other work includes TYPICAL GIRLS (Sheffield Crucible) and MUM (Plymouth Theatre Royal and Soho Theatre).
Open Office Zoom sessions
Coming up- one session a month hosted on Zoom by Phoebe Eclair-Powell to support your development as a writer, and answer any questions you may have in prepping to enter a script into the Bruntwood Prize for the June 6th deadline. These sessions are all hosted as a seminar on Zoom to allow for anonymous participation, and will be recorded and captioned for those who cannot make the live seminar.
Next up:
Zinnie Harris- April 14th, 7.30pm
More to follow in May with the brilliant Anna Jordan.
All these resources are free and will remain on our website for you to experience in your own time. We sincerely hope that you will find them useful and supportive – let us know!