The shortlist has been announced for the annual The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2023.

Produced by Ellie Keel and Paines Plough, 20 shortlisted scripts have been revealed selected from 1,002 entries.

Launched in 2019, the Prize is designed to celebrate and support exceptional playwrights who identify as female or non-binary by providing them with a national platform. Plays over 60 minutes in length are eligible for the Prize, and the winner gets £12,000 in respect of an option for Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough to co-produce the winning play.

The longlist was announced at the end of October. The finalist plays will be announced in December, and the winner – or winners – revealed at a ceremony in London on 24 January 2024.

The finalists are: Alison Carr; Amy Ng; Caoimhe Farren; Daisy Hall; Danielle Phillips; elle van lil; Emma Gibson; Esme Mahoney; Esohe Uwadiae; Jess Edwards; Linda Marshall Griffiths; Louisa Hayford; Martha Watson Allpress; Rachel Mars; Sandy Foster; Sarah Grochala; Sepy Baghaei; Shaan Sahota; Sonali Bhattacharyya; and Zoe Cooper.

The judges for this year’s Prize, chaired by the outgoing Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre Indhu Rubasingham, are journalist Samira Ahmed, playwrights April de Angelis and Chris Bush, actor Noma Dumezweni, literary agent Mel Kenyon, journalist and critic Anya Ryan, Head of Play Development at the National Theatre, Nina Steiger, and Guardian Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner.

In the Prize’s first year in 2019 two First Prizes of £12,000 were awarded, to Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me by Amy Trigg – who is currently starring in The Little Big Things at the @sohoplace theatre in London; and to You Bury Me by Ahlam. In 2021, Consumed by Karis Kelly was the winner, and the play is currently in development, with further details to be announced.

Founder Director of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, Ellie Keel said in a statement: “This year’s submissions are the strongest we have ever had, and so selecting only 20 plays for the shortlist was an extremely difficult task. Every play on the list is exceptional and deserves to be in front of an audience. I hope that artistic directors, directors, producers and other creatives will use the list and our forthcoming Longlist Catalogue (released on Monday) to choose plays to program and produce going forwards. The breadth and depth of the writers’ imagination and skill is absolutely astonishing, and Tommo and I feel so lucky to have been entrusted with their plays.”

Joint Artistic Director and Deputy Artistic Director of Paines Plough, Katie Posner said: “In this third year of a prize celebrating the extraordinary talent of female and non-binary playwrights, the standard of work continues to inspire us. It was an enormous pleasure to read plays from such an impressive longlist making it extremely difficult to select just 20. This superb shortlist, a varied powerhouse of wildly visual and epic storytelling, is truly thrilling. We continue to feel so proud to have been able to read so many brilliant stories, and to celebrate the depth of writers in the UK. We are so excited to move forward in selecting this year’s finalists.”

The Prize is sponsored by Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals company, who are the official publishing partner of the prize, and by commercial theatre producers Fiery Angel. The Founding Sponsor is the leading recruitment agency, PER.

The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2023 – Shortlist

  • Birdie by Alison Carr
  • Girl Disappeared by Amy Ng
  • Hello Charlie by Caoimhe Farren
  • Bellringers by Daisy Hall
  • Children of the Night by Danielle Phillips
  • the thing about touch. by elle van lil
  • LUMIN by Emma Gibson
  • WISHBONE by Esme Mahoney
  • Pots and Pans and Prayers by Esohe Uwadiae
  • Spooky Action at a Distance by Jess Edwards
  • THE INVISIBLE by Linda Marshall Griffiths
  • AHEMMAA (QUEENS) by Louisa Hayford
  • Ask Her If She Still Keeps All Her Kings in the Back Row by Martha Watson Allpress
  • BLOOD PLAY by Rachel Mars
  • Jicama by Sandy Foster
  • Intelligence by Sarah Grochala
  • A Good Day Will Come by Sepy Baghaei
  • The Angels Were Worms by Shaan Sahota
  • King Troll (The Fawn) by Sonali Bhattacharyya
  • Cambium Layer by Zoe Cooper
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Main photo: The Women's Prize for Playwriting

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