It has been announced today that the Peggy Ramsay Foundation will take primary responsibility for funding the Playwrights ‘73 Award, which places 4 playwrights with 4 theatres around the UK for 18 months and funds them to write a new play.
The bursary places will be awarded every 18 months and the winner of the best play from each of the 4 playwrights is awarded £7,500 for the Sonia Friedman Prize.
The playwrights named as recipients of the Playwrights ‘73 bursaries 2025 are Sarah Dickenson who will work in a joint placement shared between Exeter Northcott Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe, Tife Kusoro who will work with The Royal Court, Kat Rose Martin who will work with the Stephen Joseph Theatre and Ciara Elizabeth Smyth who will work with The Traverse Theatre. Each playwright will receive £15,000 through the duration of the 18 month project to write a new play.
Prize Panelist Beth Steel said: “What an incredible and rare scheme this is. An opportunity for four playwrights to have the time to dream and bring into the world their next play. The fact that each writer has the support and investment of a theatre makes this even rarer. I was bowled over by the brilliance of these writers’ plays, and I can’t wait to see what they conjure up next.”
Sarah Dickenson said: “I am thrilled that I am going to have the opportunity to be fostered by both The Northcott and The Globe for this residency – two theatres whose work I have long been passionate about and whose expertise on the dynamic between the stage, the audience and the world beyond the playhouse, I am keen to learn from. With them I intend to prioritise understanding more about my practice and process as a playwright, building on what I learned from The Commotion Time about collaborating with spaces, creatives, experts and communities to build big-hearted, big-thinking plays that seize our shared history to illuminate our present and spur us on together.
I am so grateful to Peggy Ramsay, The Northcott and The Globe for this opportunity and can’t wait to start!”
Guy Jones, New Work Manager, Shakespeare’s Globe and Martin Berry, Creative Director and Joint CEO, Exeter Northcott Theatre said: “Sarah Dickenson is a beloved artist to all of us at The Globe and Exeter Northcott, and with The Commotion Time, a major 5-star hit at the Northcott, has proved herself to be a phenomenal playwright. We are all thrilled to be working with her on a new play as part of Playwrights ‘73.
Both venues have a rich and proud history of producing new plays, and in these difficult times for new work, collaboration is vital. We can’t wait for this partnership to begin, and to find out what Sarah writes for our theatres.”
Tife Kusoro said: “I’m really pleased to be receiving the Playwrights ’73 bursary and the opportunity to develop more work with the Royal Court. I feel greatly supported and excited for the next stages of my career.”
Gillian Greer, Senior Dramaturg and Associate Playwright, The Royal Court said: “Following the monumental success of her debut play G, the Royal Court are thrilled to support the development of a new play by Tife Kusoro, thanks to the Playwrights ’73 bursary. Tife’s voice is like no other writer I’ve encountered – imaginative, incisive, formally innovative and mercilessly funny. We are so grateful to the Playwrights ’73 Bursary for furthering our artistic relationship with one of Britain’s most exciting upcoming dramatists. ”
Kat Rose Martin said: “I’m so thrilled to be working with SJT. My dad used to put out chairs for Alan Ayckbourn many moons ago. Scarborough and this theatre have always had a very special place in my heart. I can’t wait to join such a nurturing and passionate team and share my work with the wonderful audiences here.”
Amy Fisher, Producer, Stephen Joseph Theatre said: “The Stephen Joseph Theatre has a long history of supporting playwrights and new writing, and we’re delighted to receive the Playwright ’73 award in the year we celebrate our 70th birthday. We’re excited about having Kat Rose-Martin on attachment with us here in Scarborough throughout 2025. We’ve already started plotting and we’re really looking forward to what we might create together in the coming months.”
Ciara Elizabeth Smyth said: “I am beyond thrilled to be selected for Playwrights ’73, I was elated to even be nominated. Time, support and money are hard to come by, so to receive all three on attachment to the Traverse Theatre, the theatre that launched my career, is surreal. I’m honoured to be included in the list of writers who have been awarded previously and I can’t wait to start working with the wonderful creatives at the Traverse. I promise to arrive ready to work with a charged laptop and a sharpened tongue.”
Gareth Nicholls, Artistic Director Traverse Theatre said: “We’re delighted to be working with Ciara Elizabeth Smyth as one of the winners of the Playwright ‘73 Award 2025. Since bringing her play ‘Lie Low’ to TravFest in 2023 Ciara has shown herself to be one of the most bold and unique new voices in Scottish and Irish theatre. Her plays show a fearlessness in tackling difficult subjects in entertaining ways and we can’t wait to see what she develops over the next 18 months.”
The prize has entered a new phase with the Peggy Ramsay Foundation as the primary supporter of the scheme, awarding four bursaries for 18 month placements at host theatres. The Peggy Ramsay Foundation was formed in 1992 by Laurence Harbottle and Simon Callow out of the estate of literary agent Peggy Ramsay. In 2024 PRF gave grants to 78 playwrights worth £266,000 in total and in the last 10 years PRF has given £2m to playwrights. The Peggy Ramsay Foundation will each year award one Playwrights ’73 bursary in the name of Peggy Ramsay’s colleague Tom Erhardt. This year the Tom Erhardt Bursary will be awarded to Tife Kusoro for her placement at the Royal Court Theatre.
Playwrights ’73 began in 1973 as a way of allowing playwrights to be attached to a theatre and have the time, money and support to write a new play. It has gone under various names over the years beginning as Thames Television Playwrights Scheme, then Pearson Playwrights Scheme and most recently Film Four/Peggy Ramsay Playwrights Scheme.
The panel for the scheme consists of Will Mortimer (Chair), Georgia Gatti, Dinah Wood, Beth Steel and Jack Bradley.
Previous playwrights who have participated in the scheme include James Graham, Chris Bush, Ella Hickson, Nick Payne, Bola Agbaje, Richard Bean and Winsome Pinnock.
The scheme is also supported by The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund. Sonia Friedman Productions awards £7,500 to the best play each year written whilst on the scheme.
