I have been busy, I'm sorry, and unless you want to read the sketches I made for my presentation on Aristotle, you'll have to make do with this lazy response to an important award. My ambition, of course, is to make my blog so full of press releases that it gets mistaken for a major national newspaper - that clever blend of ignorant opinion and other people's writing disguised as news...
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Soho Theatre today (30 Sep) announced the winner of the 2013 Verity Bargate Award, as well as the latest intake of the Soho Six.
The Soho Six were announced at an event in front of theatre and new writing industry guests. The project, which sees six writers from contrasting backgrounds take up residency at Soho Theatre for around a year with the task of creating a piece of work for one of Soho’s stages, was also announced at the same event.
The confirmed 2013 Soho Six artists are: Luke Barnes, Charlotte Josephine, Rita Kalnejais, Max & Ivan, Morgan Lloyd Malcolmand Tim Price. Please see below for biographies.
The Soho Six, now in its third year, supports six artists from diverse backgrounds through a seed commission and residency at Soho Theatre to create new works for our stages. Initiated by Steve Marmion, past participants of the programme include Bryony Kimmings,Arinze Kene, Phil Porter, Shappi Khorsandi and Duncan Macmillan, representing the broad range of talents and disciplines that the programme is designed to support and develop.
At the same event Vicky Jones was announced as the winner of the 2013 Verity Bargate Award with her play The One, chosen from nearly 800 entrants to the prestigious biennial competition to find the best new play from an emerging writer. The prize for The One is £5,000, in respect of an exclusive option to produce the play at Soho Theatre, which will form part of Soho Theatre’s Spring Season running from Thu 20 Feb – Sun 30 March directed by Steve Marmion. Extracts of all six shortlisted plays and the highly commended play were also performed.
Winning play The One is a tight and vicious three-hander with caustic and hilarious dialogue. Set over a long, dark night of the soul as Jo and Harry grapple with each other, finding new ways of expressing the love, lust, comfort and terrible entrapment of their relationship; all the while Jo waits to hear from her sister giving birth across town. A play about patterns we can’t escape and the future we shape and fear in equal measure. Vicky Jones is an experienced director, and co-Artistic Director of DryWrite, Soho Theatre Associate Company behind smash hits Mydidae and Fleabag. This is her first play she has written.
“I’m delighted, shocked and overwhelmed. For a very long time I had no idea I could write a play and felt sure no-one would want to read, let alone perform the weird and secret scribbling on my laptop. The prospect of these characters who have been buzzing around my head for so long having a life on stage is terrifying, humbling and utterly thrilling. I’m so grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from Soho Theatre, the Verity Bargate Award and from my friend and co-Artistic Director of DryWrite, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, without whom I never would have written this at all.” Vicky Jones, Verity Bargate Award winner 2013
Established in the memory of Soho Theatre’s founding Artistic Director the award is now in its 30th year. The 2011 VBA winner was Thomas Eccleshare with his play Pastoral which ran to critical acclaim at Soho Theatre and HighTide Festival. Previous winners of the Verity Bargate award include: In-Sook Chappell, for her play This Isn’t Romance, Diane Samuels, for Kindertransport and Matt Charman forA Night at the Dogs.
“Soho is committed to finding and developing the most exciting theatre makers around, from announcing the latest intake of the Soho Six, to reading hundreds of plays from emerging playwrights submitted to the Verity Bargate Award, and presenting our Soho Young Writers’ Award – we’re working with writers at every stage in their career. And look at the work that has come out of our different programmes in the last year: Thomas Eccleshare’s Pastoral (Verity Bargate Award 2011); Arinze Kene’s God’s Property (Soho Six 2011-12); Charlotte Josephine’s Bitch Boxer (Writers’ Lab and Soho Young Writers’ Award 2012); Phil Porter’s Blink (Soho Six 2011-12); Bryony Kimmings’ Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model (Soho Six 2011-12); DryWrite’s Fleabag (Soho Theatre Associate Company) and The Wrong Crowd’s Hag (Soho Theatre Supported Company). We can’t wait to start working on the next lot!”
Steve Marmion, Soho Theatre Artistic Director
The short-list was considered by an independent judging panel comprising of Max Roberts, Live Theatre Newcastle Artistic Director;Simon Stokes, Theatre Royal Plymouth Artistic Director; Roxanna Silbert and Tessa Walker, Birmingham Rep Artistic Director and Associate Director; Arinze Kene Soho Six 2011 and writer of God’s Property; Charlotte Josephine incoming Soho Six member and winner of Soho Young Writers’ Award 2012 for Bitch Boxer and Michael Vale designer of 2011 Verity Bargate Award-winning play Pastoraland 2004 winner A Night at the Dogs.
“The VBA has been a cornerstone of Soho’s work with writers for 30 years. Its process allows us to identify new voices across the UK, develop the most outstanding short-listed work and see to production a thrilling crop of new plays. It is thanks to our regional partners, team of readers and of course the writers that we are able to bring this work to life.” Nina Steiger, Soho Theatre Associate Director
“We set out on this search with the aim to find a story that we’ve never heard before, something that pushes our limits emotionally, morally and theatrically. Something that is the shout from the crowd that we have to listen to. We were not disappointed! From nearly 800 scripts of an incredibly high standard, we had a shortlist of real contenders, with a long discussion about all of the final six. The One is both a brutal and beautiful account of a relationship. I can’t wait to work on it” Steve Marmion, Soho Theatre Artistic Director
The runners up of the VBA 2013 are Daniel Alicandro for Copperfield and James Fritz for 4m 12s. Completing the short-list are Clara Brennan for The Vendor, Kicking K for No After No, and Iain Weatherby for Rollers, while Dead Party Animals by Thomas Pickles was highly commended as a fantastic debut play by a very promising young playwright.
Among the short-list three of the writers are first-time playwrights and four are unrepresented as writers, highlighting the real discoveries we made.
In the run up to this year’s award Soho Theatre worked closely with regional partners to deliver a programme of national outreach workshops in eight locations throughout the UK, meeting nearly 500 playwrights regionally. In London a further nine events reached another 500 writers from across the capital. The resulting entries to the award came from every corner of the British Isles with almost 50% of plays submitted by writers from outside of London.
The Verity Bargate Award was established after the Soho Theatre founder’s death in 1981 ‘to commemorate the remarkable contribution made by a woman of extraordinary instinct and drive in the field of new writing, and to carry on her work by the continuing encouragement of new playwrights’. Over its 30 year history the award has uncovered the talents of some of the most distinctive voices in new writing including Diane Samuels, Judy Upton, Bonnie Greer, Fraser Grace, Shan Khan, Matt Charman, In-Sook Chappell and Toby Whithouse.
The past two winners, Thomas Eccleshare and In-Sook Chappell have both continued their success as writers and theatremakers. Thomas Eccleshare’s Pastoral had a successful run on Soho Theatre’s main stage in 2013 and he returns with his company Dancing Brick and their production of Perle this October.
In-Sook Chappell has adapted This Isn’t Romance, produced at Soho Theatre in 2009, for radio and film and has since returned to Soho Theatre with Tales of the Harrow Road, devised with, and performed by, local residents from the Harrow Road/Church Street area.
Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab for young writers aged 16-26 has seen a 500% increase in applications for 2013/14, with classes expanded to serve the demand. Writers participate in monthly playwriting workshops, working towards a full length play, and are then invited to theSoho Young Writers’ Award with the prize of a staged showcase of their play.
Of the 16 scripts submitted for 2012/13, In Your Image by Gemma Copping was chosen as the winning play and received its showcase on 27 September 2013.
Previous winner Charlotte Josephine’s career has taken off since winning the award last year for Bitch Boxer which had a sell-out run at Soho Theatre, a national tour and she is currently working on Secret Theatre at the Lyric Hammersmith.
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