Spotlight on Humanity: Radius Playwriting Competition 2018 in association with the Finborough Theatre has been won by first-time playwright Hannah Morley for her play Petrichor. She wins £500, and a staged reading as part of the Finborough Theatre’s Vibrant 2018 – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights.
The reading will take place on Sunday, 14 October 2018 at 7.30pm. Tickets will be on sale soon.
Playwright Hannah Morley was born in Doncaster in 1992. Petrichor is her first play, written as part of the Writer’s Lab course at Soho Theatre. It was longlisted for both the Verity Bargate Award and the Bruntwood Prize. She trained as an actor at Guildford School of Acting.
Radius Playwriting Competition 2018 was judged by Neil McPherson and Sue Healy, Artistic Director and Literary Manager of London’s Finborough Theatre.
Judge Neil McPherson, Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre, said: “Petrichor was a clear and worthy winner. The competition is judged entirely blind, and when we discovered that the winner was a new playwright and this was her first play, we were astonished. We very much look forward to working with Hannah on this play and into the future.”
The shortlist for the competition was Celebrate by Callum Cameron; Evidence by Richard Adams; Headhog by Tom Jensen; No Flag by Natalie Audley; Part Light by Edie Franklin; Portrait by Georgina Burns; and The Sanctuary by Chris Jamieson. The Funeral Director by Iman Qureshi was also shortlisted, but was withdrawn from the competition before the judging as it has just been announced as the winner of this year’s Papatango Prize.
The next Radius Playwriting Competition will take place in 2020, and will be announced in December 2019.
Radius provides high-quality drama scripts to churches and community groups. In addition to a collection of original takes on the Christmas and Easter stories, they specialize in plays that ask searching questions about how life should be lived, avoiding offering easy answers. More information about Radius’s playwriting competition, YouTube Channel, their unique script collection and other initiatives can be found at www.radiusdrama.org.uk.
