Sean Foley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre today announced the judging panel and a shortlist of eight new plays for first ever major playwrighting prize dedicated to the art of Comedy - The Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy in partnership with The Victoria Wood Foundation and supported by BBC Comedy.
Joining Sean Foley on the panel are: BAFTA winning actor, comedian and friend of Victoria Wood Daniel Rigby, BAFTA winning actor and broadcaster Siobhan McSweeney, West End and Broadway producer Tegan Summer, renowned playwright Tanika Gupta MBE FRSL and television producer and representative of the Victoria Wood Foundation Piers Wenger. The project is led by the multiple award-winning live comedy director, dramaturg and comedy teacher, Dec Munro. Images and biographies for the panel and a photo of Victoria Wood can be downloaded here.
Panellist Daniel Rigby said: ‘I’m thrilled to be on the panel for the Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize. Victoria was a huge part of my life and a total inspiration, so it’s an honour. I’m also looking forward to reading some brand spanking new comedy voices for the theatre which are sorely needed.’
Tanika Gupta added: ‘I am delighted to be on the panel for the Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize. Victoria was an absolute comedic icon and her writing sparkled effortlessly with wit, wisdom and side-splitting humour. I look forward to reading some great new comedy writing for the stage.’
The shortlist of eight plays is:
Bring me the Head of Miriam Margolyes by Andrew Pollard
Hello Charlie by Caoimhe Farren
Bum by Ed Amsden and Tom Coles
Goodbye Suzzie Jenkins by Ben Callon
Reach for the Stars by Jenny Knotts
Portugal by Eugene O'Hare
Sidekicked by Patrick Maguire
Fake Melania by Poppy Corbett
The four finalists will be announced on Monday 13 May, and the winner will be announced at a special ceremony to be held at The Rep on Wednesday 15 May from 4.30pm – 6.30pm. The winner will receive a special award designed and currently being made in The Rep’s own workshops and £25,000 (£15,000 of which is prize money, and £10,000 of which will be the play commission.)
Sean Foley said: ‘It’s a personal thrill that The Rep created THE VICTORIA WOOD PLAYWRITING PRIZE FOR COMEDY in partnership with the Victoria Wood Foundation. To have a new major playwriting prize in our industry is cause for celebration itself - never has the need for supporting new plays been greater - but to have this Prize dedicated to the art of Comedy, perhaps the most underrated genre of all, is ground-breaking.
A fitting tribute to Victoria Wood’s trailblazing comic talent, this is the first major playwriting Prize for narrative stage comedy in the world. The Rep is proud that the home of the Prize is in the UK’s most diverse and youngest city, the city of one of Victoria’s major collaborators, Dame Julie Walters, and the city of so many contemporary comedians and writers such as Sir Lenny Henry, Joe Lycett, and Meera Syal, CBE, FRSL. It is of course also the city where Victoria Wood herself went to university to study Drama.
Of the twin masks of drama - Comedy and Tragedy - often the focus from our industry, across acting, directing and writing, is on the latter. The Rep has been a pioneering force in UK theatre for over 100 years, and with the creation of this Prize is once again opening up new possibilities… As a major theatre that celebrates the difficult art of making people laugh, we hope to become a national home for theatrical comedy - where writing, developing, and creating that art is taken seriously.’
The Prize has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The Victoria Wood Foundation, a charity set up after the death of Victoria Wood by in 2016 by her friends to support the arts.
