Sanctuary by Jacob Sparrow has been announced as the winner of the inaugural Leodis Prize, securing a fully funded run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026.
The play will be staged at Pleasance Dome (Ace Dome) from 5 to 31 August 2026, excluding 17 August, with performances at 4pm.
Launched in 2025, the Leodis Prize was created to discover and champion previously unrepresented playwrights, attracting nearly 350 submissions from across the UK and beyond.
A reflective, time-shifting drama, Sanctuary explores memory, belonging and community as past and present intertwine.
Inspired by real events in a Suffolk village, where plans to open an AIDS hospice in the early 1990s were met with local resistance, the play follows a man who arrives ahead of the development and forms unexpected connections with those around him.
When an unexpected encounter forces him to confront memories he has suppressed and reshaped, he is drawn into a reckoning with mortality, survival and unearned privilege.
Set largely within a single house, the play moves fluidly between past and present, examining loneliness, shame and the lack of a clear blueprint for queer lives, while also illuminating moments of care, humour and hope.
Writer Jacob Sparrow said, “I am thrilled and amazed to have won the inaugural Leodis Prize and am hugely grateful to Leodis and the judges for giving me this opportunity and seeing potential in Sanctuary. This is my first play and I wanted to write something that finds hope in queer voices whilst acknowledging the legacy of our history, and that humanity can still be found in unexpected places even when it feels as though the world is against us. I cannot wait to start work with the team to develop a fully realised production.”
In addition to the Fringe run, the prize includes representation from Leodis Talent, a £2,000 cash award and publication of the play by Methuen Drama.
The judging panel praised Sanctuary for its emotional depth, theatrical imagination and powerful storytelling.
Daniel Hinchliffe, Managing Director of Leodis Talent, said, “The shortlisted plays were all brilliant, and the judging panel and I loved reading them. Each had its own distinctive voice, and we’ve discovered some wonderful writers. But there was one play that stood out for us, and that play is Sanctuary by first time writer Jacob Sparrow. Huge congratulations to Jacob and thank you to all of the writers who entered. See you in Edinburgh!”
Sparrow was part of the Royal Court’s Emerging Writers Group in 2025 and Sanctuary marks his debut play.
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
