The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting launches search for the ‘People’s Judge’

The 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting launches in the new year, and this year for the first time ever Europe’s largest playwriting prize is looking for one passionate audience member to join them in their search for original and innovate new voices in drama.

If you have a love for theatre and new plays, this could be the opportunity for you. Supported by theatre critic Lyn Gardner, the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting will bring a theatre-goer based in the North West of England to the 2019 esteemed panel of judges from arts and media, to help select the winning play. Previous years have seen big names such as Russell T Davies, Lucy Prebble, Meera Syal, Sir Nicholas Hytner, and Alfred Enoch feature on the panel.

You could help launch the careers of new playwrights, such as Katherine Soper who at the time of entering her first play, Wish List, was working in a perfume shop. Wish List went on to win the 2015 Bruntwood Prize and was a sell-out success at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, receiving acclaim from local and national press before continuing to draw audiences when it opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

To help aid the People’s Judge’s decision making, they will take part in two workshops with Lyn Gardner, accompanying her to see a show and discussing with her on what to look out for and how to talk and write about scripts rather than fully formed productions.

They will also benefit from a pair of free tickets for 5 productions over the year, standard pay as a Bruntwood Prize Judge, travel and accommodation expenses, a free back catalogue of published Bruntwood Prize winning plays from publishers Nick Hern, and administrative support.

For more information on how to enter the competition to become the very first People’s Judge, visit the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting website.