Papatango Announces UNSCORCHED as Winner of New Writing Prize

"Without Papatango my play FOXFINDER would still have been languishing in the depths of my hard drive." Dawn King, winner of the OffWestEnd Award for Most Promising Playwright for writing 2011 Papatango Prize winner FOXFINDER.

Papatango Theatre Company in partnership with the Finborough Theatre is delighted to announce the winner of the fifth Papatango New Writing Prize.

This year's winner is UNSCORCHED, the first play by 30-year-old Luke Owen, a delicate and unashamed exploration of the taboos of working in child protection. An astonishing début play from a first-time playwright, UNSCORCHED was chosen unanimously from more than 500 entries by a panel including the four members of Papatango - George Turvey, Matt Roberts, Sam Donovan and Chris Foxon - together with Neil McPherson, Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre, and Francis Grin, Literary Manager of the Finborough Theatre. All scripts were judged anonymously.

UNSCORCHED will receive a four week run at the Finborough Theatre, opening on Tuesday 29 October 2013, following a development week at Bristol Old Vic Theatre. The script will be published by Nick Hern Books.

Winning playwright Luke Owen, 30, grew up in Woking and now lives in Norwich, where he works as an actor and copywriter. He is a graduate of the University of East Anglia, where he took a BA in English and Drama before graduating from the acclaimed MA course in Creative Writing. He was a member of The Royal Court Theatre Young Writers' Programme.

UNSCORCHED is Luke's first play. He was inspired to write it because "I'm familiar with the challenge of living with a difficult past and the legacy it leaves. There are a number of plays that deal with the immediate effect of child abuse, but very few I've found that deal with what happens years and years down the line. I also wanted to write a play about what people do with the aftermath of child abuse, and the impact that working in child protection might have on a person."

Blanche McIntyre, winner of the Critics' Circle Most Promising Newcomer Award for directing 2011 Papatango Prize winner FOXFINDER, has welcomed the selection of a first-time playwright as winner. "Papatango takes massive risks on emerging theatre-makers - they are always one step ahead of the game. Their energy and initiative are tremendous and they have gone from strength to strength."

Previous winners of the Papatango New Writing Prize include Dawn King's FOXFINDER which was one of The Independent's Top Five Plays of the Year, won playwright Dawn King the OffWestEnd Award for Most Promising Playwright and a prestigious Pearson Award bursary through the Finborough Theatre, won the Critics' Circle Most Promising Newcomer Award for director Blanche McIntyre, and was nominated for OffWestEnd Awards for Best New Play and Best Male Performance. FOXFINDER has transferred to Sweden and the USA and will soon premiere in Australia. 2012 winner PACK by Louise Monaghan was described by Michael Billington in The Guardian as "knocks spots off much of the new writing I have seen". Louise has since gone on to develop work with Octagon Theatre, Bolton, and is now under commission to the BBC. The first winner of the Prize, Dominic Mitchell, is currently receiving huge acclaim for his BBC series In The Flesh, having been discovered and championed by Papatango who produced Potentials, his first ever show.

Papatango was founded by Matt Roberts, George Turvey and Sam Donovan in 2007, who were joined by Chris Foxon in 2012. Papatango's patrons include Howard Davies, David Suchet, Zoe Wanamaker and Andrew Welch. Papatango's Artistic Advisors include Colin Barr, Matt Charman, Tamara Harvey, Catherine Johnson, Con O'Neill and Tanya Tillett.

The company's mission is to find the best and brightest new talent in the UK with an absolute commitment to bringing their work to the stage. Since then, Papatango have produced sixteen pieces of new writing in venues including the Tristan Bates Theatre, the Old Red Lion Theatre and the Pleasance London. 2009 saw the launch of their first Papatango New Writing Prize. Since 2011, the Papatango New Writing Prize has been in partnership with the Finborough Theatre. For more information, visit www.papatango.co.uk.

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