Martha Watson Allpress announced as winner of the 2023 Ambassador Theatre Group Playwright’s Prize in association with Platform Presents
Her winning play, ‘Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings In The Back Row’, will be workshopped next March at The Marylebone Theatre
Playwright
Martha Watson Allpress
Watson Allpress said: “I am so thrilled and so honoured to have my play chosen as this year's winner, I can't quite believe it! A mad congratulations to all the other entrants; new writing is alive and scrappy”
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‘Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings In The Back Row’ will be workshopped for two days prior to a rehearsed reading at The Marylebone Theatre.
Alexander Gifford, Artistic Director of The Marylebone Theatre and Judge on the 2023 Playwright's Prize said "The Marylebone Theatre is dedicated to finding and producing the best new writing. We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with those ace-nurtures of playwriting talent, Platform Presents. The ATG Playwright's Prize is a superb opportunity to discover and support a new writer whose work is vibrant and intelligent and takes us deeper into the mystery of being a human being now."
Five £1,000 cash prizes for runners-up, sponsored by Time Out, were awarded to ’Daisy Chains’ by Sarah Richardson, ‘Joy Thief’ by Rosie Kellett, ‘Lumin’ by Emma Gibson, ‘Non-Negotiable’ by Rosie Pierce, and ‘Pubtalk’ by Grace Carter.
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This year’s prize received 696 script submissions, with 10 finalists shortlisted. The 10 finalists were then anonymously passed onto the judges.
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The submissions were judged by a panel of industry experts including Alexander Gifford (Artistic Director, Marylebone Theatre), Amy Gardner (Producer & Director), Caroline McGinn (Time Out), Dipal Acharya (Writer, Executive Editor, ES Magazine), Emily Zak (Writer & Journalist), Helena Lee (Writer, Features Director, Harper’s Bazaar, Founder East Side Voices), Indira Varma (Actor), Isabella Macpherson (Producer), John Manning (Ambassador Theatre Group), Leah Harvey (Actor), Pippa Bennett-Warner (Actor), Sarah Hemming (Theatre Critic, Financial Times), Vera Graziadei (Filmmaker, Actor, Poet)
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The annual prize is preceeded by a West End fundraiser, co-produced with Finite Films & TV, founded by Amy Gardner. This year the fundraiser, ‘Theatrical Consequences’ at the Savoy Theatre, was directed by Oliver Chris and Katie-Ann McDonough, and performed by Bessie Carter, David Mumeni, Denise Gough, Freddie Fox, Frog Stone, Jack Wolfe, Jade Anouka, Jo Joyner, Kerry Godliman, Manjinder Virk, Olivia Nixon, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Sascha Dhawan, Sam Phillips, Robert Bathurst and Tracy Ann Oberman.
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The Platform Presents Playwright’s Prize was founded in 2018 to nurture and provide more opportunities for playwrights. In the first year, 162 scripts were submitted. In its fourth year Platform Presents partnered with one of the largest live entertainment companies in the world, Ambassador Theatre Group, on the prize re-naming it the Ambassador Theatre Group Playwright’s Prize in association with Platform Presents.
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Also in 2022, international city media brand Time Out partnered with Platform Presents and Finite Films to announce five new £1,000 cash prizes for runners-up.
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@platformpresents
The next Ambassador Theatre Group Playwright's Prize in association with Platform Presents will open in December 2023
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We would like to say thank you to all the writers who submitted their work, all our expert judges, and our incredibly supportive partners on this increasingly important prize.
