Theatre News

David Ireland Wins 10k Meyer-Whitworth Writing Award

| London's West End |

10 October 2011

The 2011 Meyer-Whitworth Award has been given to David Ireland for his play Everything Between Us, which was first produced at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast in September 2010.

Supported by the National Theatre Foundation, the annual Meyer-Whitworth Award is worth £10,000 and is intended to help further the careers of UK playwrights who are not yet established. The Award also aims to draw public attention to the importance of writers in contemporary theatre.

Previous winners include Philip Ridley (The Fastest Clock in the Universe), Diane Samuels (Kindertransport), David Harrower (Kill the Old, Torture their Young), Conor McPherson (This Lime Tree Bower), Dennis Kelly (Osama The Hero), Owen McCafferty (Scenes from the Big Picture), Ali Taylor (Cotton Wool) and Natasha Langridge (Shraddha).

The judges for the 20th Meyer-Whitworth Award were Kate Mosse, Rona Munro, Ursula Rani Sarma and Rebecca Gatward.

Winner David Ireland, who trained as an actor at RSAMD and has worked for many theatre companies across the UK, said: “I’m honoured and delighted to receive the Meyer-Whitworth Award for Everything Between Us. The play is very close to my heart and was a pleasure to write. To be given this kind of recognition for it is both humbling and inspiring.”