I want to read a play that takes me out of my experience. I want to see how the writer illuminates the truth of things that I recognise in a whole new way. 2017 Jury

Plays can be limitless and I want the playwrights to embrace that 2017 Jury

Why now – even if a play is set in another time, it somehow questions who we are now. 2017 Jury

A play that has ideas and questions. A play that has a point of enquiry. Tells us things we don’t know yet – that is exploring something unknown and the surprise and complex truth of that. 2017 Jury

A play that has specificity and rigour. I want to feel something. 2017 Jury

A play that has a sense of humour – even if it’s dark and serious – not totally plumbing the depths of despair – not plays that are resigned, despairing and whinging. There is something beautiful about laughing collectively in a space. 2017 Jury

I want to read a play that makes me realise that I have been doing it wrong – immediately makes you realise you need a broader definition of what a play could be. 2017 Jury

A play that is very clear about why I have got to be in the same room and can only be done in the theatre – crying out to be in the same room. 2017 Jury

When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behaviour. Sometimes this is dangerous but it should be. 2017 Jury

I want to be entertained! I want to be grabbed and taken on a journey. 2017 Jury

I want a play that excites me emotionally and intellectually – that I want to talk about for hours and days afterwards – that haunts me. 2017 Jury

I want to listen to a voice that we haven’t heard before – that is of the here and now – theatre is an artform of the now. 2017 Jury

The written word