Papatango has announced that Holly Arsenault’s play Chamber has won the 2026 Papatango New Writing Prize, selected from a record-breaking 1,913 submissions.
The award was presented at a ceremony at Park Theatre, where it was also confirmed that Chamber will be co-produced by Papatango and Park Theatre on the Park200 stage in autumn 2027. Arsenault receives an £8,000 commission, with the play also set to be published by Nick Hern Books.
Chamber will run at Park Theatre from 28 October to 27 November 2027, with an official press performance on 1 November 2027.
This year’s prize also marks a significant expansion of Papatango’s support for emerging playwrights. Alongside the main award, the company has launched the new Papatango Prize Discovery and Papatango Playwrights’ Progress programmes, doubling the number of commissions and productions supported through the initiative.
Naomi Soneye-Thomas was named the inaugural recipient of the Papatango Prize Discovery for her play One More Tune. She receives an £8,000 commission alongside development support from Papatango, with the company intending to produce the play in the future.
The three shortlisted writers selected for the new Papatango Playwrights’ Progress programme are Simon Jaggers for Avalon Land, Íde Simpson for We’re Still Here and Jesse Weaver for Satellite. Each writer will receive £1,500 and take part in a year-long programme of workshops, mentoring and dramaturgical support led by Papatango Co-CEOs George Turvey and Chris Foxon.
George Turvey said: “We’re proud the Prize is doing more than ever to support new playwrights at this critical moment, with the number of new plays produced dropping by 30% since 2019 (according to British Theatre Consortium).
“Holly, our winner, will premiere Chamber with Papatango in partnership with Park Theatre; her hilarious yet chilling play is a knockout. This will put another remarkable new talent on the kind of major platform needed for careers not merely to start but to be sustained.
“Naomi is exactly the kind of exciting, distinctive voice Papatango hoped to find through the new Prize Discovery strand, and we can’t wait to develop and ultimately produce her play, a punchy, funky tale of community and gentrification. It marks an expansion of Papatango’s commissioning pathways, and ensures that the Prize can support writers of all kinds and plays of all scales.
“Finally, by launching Papatango Playwrights’ Progress, we can for the first time bring our three shortlisted writers together in a year-long writing group, to fund their practice and build lasting creative relationships. We received a record number of scripts this year, and the remaining 1,908 Prize entrants have all been offered personal feedback. We are determined the entire Prize acts as a playwriting accelerant for everyone.”
Park Theatre Artistic Director Jez Bond added: “After our huge success co-producing the last Papatango Prize-winner Hannah Doran’s The Meat Kings! (Inc.) Of Brooklyn Heights – which garnered critical acclaim, terrific audience feedback and won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2026 – we’re thrilled to be partnering once again with Papatango, to bring yet another terrific new play to the stage. Chosen from almost two thousand submissions, and developed with Papatango’s expert dramaturgical support, Chamber is a relevant and powerful new play about young people navigating today’s burning world.”
Described as a funny yet unsettling drama, Chamber follows a group of high school orchestra students trapped in a soundproof room after an unexplained incident, imagining what may be happening beyond its walls as they confront a world shaped by extremism, uncertainty and social media.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
