Paines Plough, Orange Tree Theatre, Sheffield Theatres and the Women’s Prize for Playwriting have announced the world premiere of Sapling, the award-winning new play by Georgina Duncan.
Winner of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Playwriting, Sapling will premiere at Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond from 5 June to 3 July 2027 before transferring to Sheffield Theatres from 7 to 24 July.
Set in Northern Ireland in 1990, the play follows Gerry, a teenager navigating life a decade after the murder of his brother. When the killer is released under a new identity, a memorial garden is destroyed and a stranger arrives in town, his world is thrown into turmoil.
Described as a warm-hearted, funny and tender coming-of-age story, Sapling will be directed by Claire O’Reilly and marks the latest collaboration between the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and its producing partners.
The production follows Paines Plough’s recent commitment to championing new writing and emerging playwrights, and forms part of the company’s continuing relationship with the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, which it co-founded in 2019 alongside Ellie Keel.
Alongside the announcement of Sapling, Paines Plough has revealed initial details of its contribution to Shedinburgh at the Young Vic on 9 October. The programme includes a ShedX panel chaired by joint Artistic Directors Katie Posner and Charlotte Bennett, featuring playwrights Abi Morgan and Dennis Kelly discussing the process of shaping new plays and creative teams.
The company has also announced a new edition of Come to Where I Am, featuring a newly commissioned monologue by Sophia Griffin, with further participants to be announced.
Paines Plough has additionally named Manjinder Virk as its Fellowship Playwright for 2026. A finalist for this year’s Women’s Prize for Playwriting with The Room, Virk will receive a bursary and join the organisation’s creative team as part of the attachment.
Katie Posner and Charlotte Bennett, Joint Artistic Directors of Paines Plough, said: “We’re delighted to be announcing yet another incredible Women’s Prize for Playwriting play taking to the stage; our fourth production of a winning play since co-founding the prize with Ellie Keel in 2019. A deeply moving, gut-punch of a play about growing up in an atmosphere of silence, division and grief, we’re so pleased that Georgina Duncan’s Sapling will meet the audiences at our brilliant co-producers in Richmond and Sheffield. The Prize’s legacy also continues with Manjinder Virk, a Finalist this year with her script The Room – and we can’t wait for her to join our team as 2026 Playwriting Fellow, to continue her journey as a writer. With Sophia Griffin also coming on board with a new short commission for our Paines Plough day at Shedinburgh in October, we’re excited to keep working with these amazing playwrights to bring their voices onto the stage.”
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
