Emerging playwright Roxy Cook was introduced immediately because the winner of the 2023 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award for her first play A Woman Walks Into a Bank. Roxy accepted the Award from Erica Whyman, Chair of the Award Judging Panel at an occasion going down within the shell of the 503Studio at Nine Elms, which is able to grow to be a world-class centre for debut playwrights. The occasion included a rehearsed studying of an excerpt of the successful play.
With her play chosen from 1,466 submissions from 49 nations, Roxy receives The Carne Prize of £6,000 which incorporates the staging of a world premiere manufacturing at Theatre503 after a yr’s assist and improvement, and publication of her play by Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals Company.
Set in Moscow within the afterglow of the 2018 World Cup, A Woman Walks Into A Bank follows an outdated girl who resides with dementia as she walks right into a financial institution searching for assist, solely to be conned into taking out considered one of Moscow’s notoriously dodgy loans… with solely her cat to bear witness. Inspired by the experiences of Roxy’s kinfolk and instructed within the fashion of the fairytales she was instructed as a baby, A Woman Walks Into a Bank is a darkly comedian play concerning the social apathy tearing Russia other than the within out.
The play was chosen because the Award Winner by a panel chaired by Erica Whyman (RSC Acting Artistic Director / Theatre503 Chair) with Alice Birch, Jon Brittain, Diane Borger, Kyo Choi, Iman Qureshi, Winsome Pinnock and Roy Williams. Three finalists – together with Roxy Cook together with Olga Braga and Charlotte Cromie – have been in attendance on the occasion with two becoming a member of remotely from the USA – Nia Akilah Robinson (from her dwelling in Harlem, USA) and Georgia Bruce (from Princetown, the place they’re presently acting on tour within the USA).
On behalf of the Judging Panel, Lisa Spirling (Artistic Director) stated: ‘This was an outstanding collection of plays that the judges felt took incredible courage to write, demonstrated remarkable skill, placed centre-stage people and places we haven’t seen earlier than, and begin conversations we’re afraid to have. A Woman Walks Into Bank exemplifies this. It exudes a degree of confidence and boldness uncommon in a debut play, with a theatricality that fits the chaos of the world it depicts. We can’t look forward to its manufacturing on Theatre503’s stage and to look at no matter Roxy Cook does subsequent.’
The Theatre503 International Playwriting Award is open to submissions from anybody who has but to have had a full-length play produced professionally in a subsidised London, or main regional/worldwide venue for 4 weeks or extra. The earlier winners are: Paul Murphy (Valhalla) and Bea Roberts (And Then Come The Nightjars) – joint winners 2014; Andrew Thompson (In Event of Moone Disaster, winner 2018, which went on to win Best Writer at The 2018 Stage Debut Awards); Danusia Samal (Out of Sorts, winner 2018); and Pravin Wilkins (Moreno, 2020).
The 2023 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award is made attainable by the beneficiant assist of Philip and Chris Carne and Samuel French Ltd., a Concord Theatricals Company.