Experience Opportunity

Mercury Essex Playwrights Award

Mercury Essex Playwrights Award, a major new initiative designed to champion both emerging and established playwrights from across Greater Essex.

Supported by GreyFriars Hotel, the award marks a significant new investment in regional talent and reflects the Mercury’s ongoing commitment to developing and producing exceptional new writing.

Supported by the Marcela Trust, this is the first year of a new playwrighting award championing both established and emerging writers from Greater Essex.

Over recent years, the Mercury has been proud to have been able to profile the work of Essex-based writers through workshops, masterclasses and productions on both the main stage and in the studio space Recent successes have included Flumps by Emma Jo Pallett which won UK Theatre’s Best New Play award in 2025, the world premiere of The Manningtree Witches by Ava Pickett in 2026, and a new stage adaptation of Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape, based on the bestselling book by Colchester-born Dermot O’Leary. These productions sit alongside a growing body of acclaimed new work developed and staged by the Mercury, including Martha Loader’s award-winning Bindweed and Tassa Deparis’ Swallow the Lake.

The Mercury is committed to supporting local writers. We are seeking Essex writers from all backgrounds with new ideas and new stories. Your work can be any genre or style - be contemporary or historical.

The winner of the Mercury Essex Playwrights Award will receive a full commission, dramaturgical support from the Mercury’s artistic team, and a fully staged production in the Mercury Studio during 2027. In addition to the production, the winner will receive dramaturgical support from our Literary Associate Kenny Emson and our Artistic Director, Natasha Rickman. You will also work closely with our Talent and New Work Producer, Katie Cutmore. 

The Mercury is committed to supporting local writers. We are seeking Essex writers from all backgrounds with new ideas and new stories. Your work can be any genre or style – be contemporary or historical.

The winner of the Mercury Essex Playwrights Award will receive a full commission, dramaturgical support from the Mercury’s artistic team, and a fully staged production in the Mercury Studio during 2027.

In addition to the production, the winner will receive dramaturgical support from our Literary Associate Kenny Emson and our Artistic Director, Natasha Rickman. You will also work closely with our Talent and New Work Producer, Katie Cutmore.

Requirements

You must have either grown up in, or be currently living or working, in Essex.
You must be 18 years old or over to apply.
Your play should have a running time of between 60 and 130 minutes.
We will ask for the first 20 pages of your script. This excludes any title pages or front matter.
Please make sure your play is suitable for a performance by a maximum of five actors.
Your play must be fully yours and original. You should own and control the rights to the script. It cannot be a direct translation of an original work or adaptation of a novel or musical.
Your play must not have been previously performed (at an amateur or professional level). It cannot be connected or attached to another theatre or production company. It must be available to be produced in 2027.

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