2019 Bruntwood Prize Longlist Announced.
Reaching the longlist

This year we received a staggering 2,561 submissions to the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting – 35 per cent more than ever before. Since then the plays have been through a rigorous reading process to make it to the longlist, which we’re delighted to announce below.

Remember, if you’ve been successful it’s vital that anonymity is maintained throughout the judging process. If you see your title below do feel free to celebrate, but please don’t reveal the title of your script as this would break the anonymity and put your play at risk.

All of the plays submitted to the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting are subjected to the same reading process. We’re proud of how this process of anonymity and a varied panel of readers enables us to level the playing field for new writers to compete alongside already established playwrights. Our dedicated team of readers are experienced in reading scripts for the stage and the group is made up of directors, dramaturgs, previous winners of The Bruntwood Prize, producers, literary agents, other theatre practitioners and artistic staff at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

You can find out more about the readers, their responsibilities, and their dedication to choosing the winning play over on our blog series.

 

Categories and prizes

For 2019 the Bruntwood Prize categories have evolved and the Judges will award:

• The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting-a first prize of £16,000
• A Judges’ Awards of £8,000
• An Original New Voice Award of £8,000- available to playwrights who have not had full-length play professionally produced for 12 performances or more in a professional venue. All scripts entered by these playwrights are also eligible for the Bruntwood Prize and Judges Award.
• An International Award of £8,000- open to international playwrights invited to anonymously apply via our named international partners: The BANFF Centre in Canada; Belvoir Theatre and Melbourne Theatre Company in Australia; Berkeley Rep and Playwrights Horizons in the USA.

Fifteen scripts will make the shortlist this year (five shortlisted for the International Award, as well as the usual ten for the UK awards) so the Longlist has been increased to 115 plays.

Of this 115, 56 per cent are eligible for the Original New Voice Award, and 15 per cent for the International Award.

 

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2019 Longlist

 

14% – Razorke

A Canal Across A Park– Mavis Maguire

A Partnership: A Tragi-Comedy For Two Men– Artemis Ford

After The Peace– V J Epsom

AKEDAH– Sarah laughed to herself

And I Dreamt I was Drowning– Jade Cain

And It Rains– Fanny Tickler

Ballybaile– Rosaleen O’Brien

Bare Bones– Victoria M

Bare Girl– Tammy Roberts

Beautiful Autumn– J Lin

BITS– Sara Aria

black bird– black bird

Bones– Constance Gamble

Boys Build Forts– Rose Joes

CALVARY– Ekemma Adeyemi

Chekhov Got His Gun– TD

Chicken Burger N Chips– Daniel Mac

CHINOISERIE– Mee Yung Gin

COMMON: Parts I and II– SMOOTHIELAND

Cottontail– Wallace Gromit

Dad– Joni Wren

D’Annunzio– Eleanora Brevis

DEAD PIGEONS– Rainy Day

Death Metal Band– Britney Spears

ECHOES– Play Wright

FEEDING THE DOGS– Victor Jobanputra

FLEX– Toyota Tercella Red

Fragments– Oscar Kilo

Glass– Pepperjack

Glee & Me– Wham TakaTaka

Golden Boy– Liam Ridley

Hares– Charlotte Webb

Here Are Our Monsters– Flip N. Queer

How To Start A Knife Gang– Louie Miro

If Greenland Fell– Kurt-Vivian Delaney

In My Bones– Doc Petersen

In The Time of the Volcano– Ogred Weary

Integrity– Luke Roberts

Island People– Pearl Cortez

Jesus in Manhattan– Joan Brown

Just Stay– Nathalie Traganza

LET IT LIE– AJ Phoenix

Like I Care– Mary Wollstonecraft

LOOKING UP– Tweety73

Lovesick and Twisted– Kelly Dunbar

Maggie & Maire– Eustace Amadán

Masc– Gary Mabbutt

Me Myself I– C Michel

Me.– Oscar Lilman

Mobility– Katie Morag

Model Minority -Betsy Chee

My Brother’s Keeper– Susanna Dean

My Favourite Place In The Whole Wide World– Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

Neptune– Genly Ai

Never Not Saying Exactly What You Mean– Lew Archer

Our Name is Not John– SmE

Out of Mind– Tebazile Retep

Park-e Laleh– Jalal Balkhi

Pavlov’s Dogs– Emily Roy

PERIODS OF COLLAPSE, or MOTHER RUSSIA– Zadie Zwillinger

Picked Clean– Foyer Brigade

Pretty Girls– Jay Keddie

RAT KING– Yitzi Ben

Remember The Future– StillCrazy

SAINT MATT– Pippi Joy

Salamander– Honoria Dickens

SANDS– Mari King

Savage -Briony Connor

Set you free– Nina Yorke

Shame Circle– Wes Koo

SHED: EXPLODED VIEW – Cornelia Parker

Single Ticket– ButtonMoon

SNOW DAY– Pip Brown

Soothe– Michael Fox

Stall– Jamie Carter

Staying at Stacey’s– Stella Artois

Stop Motion– Billiam Shakerson

Subject to Change– Brylcreemer

SUNSHINE– Felicity Flim-Flam

T&B– Boo Boo The Foo

Tahara– KV Mason

The 8th Day– Grace

the aves– pudding

The Bees Are All Dead– TK Laughton

The Boy with the Bee Jar– Jack Redman

THE BRAHAN CHILD– CHARLIE BOO

The Devil’s In The Chair– Niall Rooney

The European Hare– Tortellini De Beaumarchais

The Family Unit– Rose Lawson

The Grove– Nieh’s Daughter

The Home Front– Keith Wrass

The Jackanooni– Scarlett Gallimore

The King Is Dead– Bryony Noble

The Monsters– Clare Quilty

The Morgue of Dogs– Llewelyn Blocquet

The New Voice of Home– Laoynette Henry

THE SLEEPWALKERS– Alma Shepherd

The True History of Susanna Shakespeare– Parker Gratwick

This is my Verse. This is my Song.– Jo Casey

This is Where We Were Now– Tyrone Power

This Land Was Made – Sonnet Alexander

Tinsel & Turkey– Sheila Gregory

TITLE REDACTED– Pep Gladiola

untitled– Furtive Bird

Virtue– Sol Wythens

Warchild– Ladybugs

What Does It Take To Slay A Dragon?– Saint George

WHITE LIGHTNING– Wesley Walker

Wilt– Florence Mortimer

WINGS– Cryptogran

Winter Came– Hillary Britain

Woodpecker No1– X.Y.Z.

Yellow Bird– Marion Winks

You didn’t know you were thirsty until you started to drink– blrfitzhugh

 

Congratulations to all participants, including those who haven’t made it to the longlist this year- it’s been an especially difficult year to narrow down submissions. We have huge respect and admiration for every single writer who has taken the time to tell their story, and who has been brave enough to share their work with us.

 

Next steps

Please remember, if you are in the longlist your play is also currently up for further reading and discussion for the shortlist of top fifteen plays. Please don’t throw away your anonymity.

• We will be in touch with the shortlist via telephone TODAY- SEPTEMBER 12TH
• The Judges will now receive the shortlist of 15 plays and will meet on OCTOBER 11TH to deliberate.
• These shortlisted playwrights will not be announced until OCTOBER 14TH to allow for the last stage of the judging process to take place.
• We will be in touch with all longlisted entrants via the email address supplied on submitting your script within 2019. The script report will include responses, feedback and suggested directions and questions for a new draft of your script. These script reports are put together by a new phase of readers, with access to the comments of all previous readers. We’ll also provide a digital badge for your own marketing and seek to introduce you to any readers who would like to discuss your play further.
• As the Royal Exchange Theatre is based in Manchester, we will also be in touch to meet any writers based in the North West.
• We don’t have the capacity to enter into any correspondence about where your script reached in the reading process, or provide script reports to those not in the longlist.