Clive Judd’s debut play Here to run at Southwark Playhouse after Papatango New Writing Prize win

Clive Judd’s debut play Here will run at Southwark Playhouse from November after winning the Papatango New Writing Prize.

Judd won the 14th annual Papatango New Writing Prize for his debut full-length play from a record 1,553 entries.

The winning play Here will have its world première at The Large, Southwark Playhouse, London from 11 November – 3 December 2022, directed by Papatango’s Artistic Director George Turvey.

On the cast are Lucy Benjamin (Monica), Mark Frost (Jeff), Sam Baker-Jones (Matt) and Hannah Millward (Jess). The ensemble of actors all have strong connections to the West Midlands.

Completing the creative team are Jasmine Swan (Set and Costume Designer), Bethany Gupwell (Lighting Designer) and Asaf Zohar (Composer and Sound Designer).

A family packs into a small house with a tangled history. Matt is here, yearning to reach someone he’s lost. His cousin Jess is here, too; she just wants to feel something. Anything. And Aunt Monica and Jeff are still here, just about. Together, ferocious and funny, they laugh, they scrap, they remember.

Tonight these four people, inextricably bound yet so far apart, will finally confront the old decisions that haunt them. How does a family make a future, when everything that holds it together lies in the past?

Clive Judd said: “It is a huge honour to be named the 2022 Papatango Prize winner. Writing has always formed an integral part of my life; it is through the stories of other people that I have been able to pursue avenues of creativity and thought that may otherwise have remained closed to me.

“But it has taken me the best part of twenty years to build the courage to share my own. It means the world to me that my quiet play about ordinary, working folk from the West Midlands has received this recognition from one of my favourite new writing companies.”

Additionally, shortlisted plays – Georgia Bruce for Time, Like The Sea; Jennifer Lunn for Core; Esme Mahoney for Wishbone and Dilan Raithatha for Little India – will receive filmed readings, broadcast for a global network on The Playwright’s Laboratory.

Judged anonymously, the Papatango New Writing Prize was the UK’s first – and remains the only annual – opportunity guaranteeing a new writer a full production, publication by Nick Hern Books, a royalty of 8% of the box office, and a £7,000 commission with full developmental support.

Shortlisted writers receive a £500 fee and a streamed reading to promote their play worldwide while every entrant receives feedback on their script.

The last Prize production – Old Bridge by Igor Memic – won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

Artistic Director of Papatango, George Turvey, commented: “We are delighted to be championing another incredibly talented working-class debut playwright. In Here, Clive has written a beautiful, humane story from an often overlooked community.

“Read anonymously, the quality of his writing shone through in what was undoubtedly one of our most eclectic and exciting shortlists. That’s why we’re also thrilled to be partnering with The Playwright’s Laboratory for the Prize’s first international outing, allowing us to share the shortlisted playwrights’ work with producers and programmers worldwide.”

For more information and tickets, visit papatango.co.uk