Shortlist announced for 2017 Bruntwood Prize

The shortlist has been announced for this year's Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, with the four winners due to be announced on 13 November.

Ten scripts have been selected from 1,898 original plays that were submitted for the biennial prize, which is a partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester and property company Bruntwood.

The £40,000 prize fund will allow each of the winners to enter into a development process with the Royal Exchange Theatre.

The 2017 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting shortlist is:

Alan McKendrick, Glasgow-based writer, director and translator: Oh Graveyard, You Can’t Hold Me Always employs a number of storytelling styles to look at the
system of oppression and the working class fight.

Archie Maddocks, stand-up comedian and writer: A Place For We is set in a funeral parlor and questions the need for progress versus tradition with particular
focus on the gentrification of Brixton.

Daniel Foxsmith, actor and founder of Snuff Box Theatre: Pumpjack is set in a dystopian future where there is no water and people have become addicted to "black", the oil that they consume.

Joshua Val Martin, writer and director: This Is Not America follows Idris, a third generation Libyan immigrant living in Blackpool and his desire to go to Mars.

Kevin Doyle, playwright and director: when after all it was you and me uses a clever mix of humour and horror to present the UN as a restaurant where all political negotiations happen upstairs and the repercussions are played out below.

Laurie Nunn, writer: King Brown is set on the outskirts of Melbourne in the 1970s and explores racism and the hierarchy of society in Australia.

Rebecca Callard, actress: A Bit Of Light is set in Scarborough and explores the relationship between an alcoholic mother and a neglected teenager as she tries to stay
sober.

Sharon Clark, creative director of immersive theatre company, Raucous: Plow follows an African-American woman as she walks across the US on a pilgrimage to where her husband and son died.

Tim Foley, associate artist at Pentabus Theatre: Electric Rosary is set in a convent in the near future where technology is taking over.

Timothy X Atack, writer, composer and sound designer: Heartworm follows a couple as they rent out their spare room to an odd guest.