North East Playwriting Award rewards new writing
From emerging voices to industry champions, a special evening celebrated the North East theatre community who gathered to celebrate playwriting talent at Live Theatre
There was a palpable sense of warmth - and no shortage of full-throated cheers - inside Newcastle’s Live Theatre as a crowd of North East theatremakers came together for the 2026 North East Playwriting Awards.
Writers, actors, directors and industry figures packed into the Quayside venue on Tuesday night (March 31) for a night aimed squarely at celebrating the breadth of talent across the region and shining a spotlight on those pushing it forward.
Starting at the finale, it was writer Andrew Thompson, who took home the main North East Playwriting Award for Not A Happy Love Song - a new work exploring the unravelling of the NHS through a toxic relationship. The prize includes a full commission, with a view to staging the play on Live Theatre’s main stage.
Reacting to the win, Andrew said: “This means so much. It means everything to me as a writer to have my work read and championed by Live Theatre, a space I grew up in and have been constantly inspired by. I feel truly honoured to have won and am really excited for the opportunities this represents.”
The evening also celebrated emerging voices, with the Under 26 Award shared between two writers whose entries gave the judges an insurmountable challenge.
Ben Gettins’ Fiddle and Abby J. Walker’s The Hanging Room were both recognised, with extracts from each performed on the night by North East actors including Chris Connel, Judy Earle and Dean Bone.
Ben said: “It’s an honour to receive an award in a theatre that has such a working class legacy and to be part of it’s future is priceless.”
Speaking after her excellent speech which started, ‘I’ll make this short and sweet because my play is long and horrible,’ she said: “Winning this award means the absolute world to me, especially as someone trying to find their feet in their writing career.
“To be so welcomed and encouraged by Live Theatre and their community of fellow playwrights and theatremakers is more than I ever could have hoped for. I'm so excited to work on The Hanging Room and set it on its journey!”
It’s fair to say Abby, 25, is on a bit of a streak, having also recently been named as the winner of ClassicsFest (her play Great Granda Apicius will be performed at Alphabetti Theatre on May 16) while also hearing her first radio play, The Counsellor on Radio Four (now on BBC Sounds).
Elsewhere, the ceremony cast a wider net to honour the people and practices sustaining the region’s theatre ecology.
Milethia Rachel Thomas received the Residency Award for Amazing Grace, a new play responding to the Windrush scandal and contemporary prejudice, while Tyneside-based Syrian writer and performer Hamzeh Al Hussien was awarded the Adopt a Playwright bursary for his new play, The Entertainer following the success of his debut piece Penguin.
Hamzeh is developing the new work with Penguin co-creator Amy Golding who joined him on stage to accept the award.
Independent theatre critic Tracey Sinclair - resplendent in her signature sequins - was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to North East Theatre award by legendary arts critic and writer, Lyn Gardner, in recognition of her ongoing advocacy for regional voices. A deserved big cheer greeted her on stage.
The room was similarly full of appreciation for Alphabetti Theatre founder Ali Pritchard, who received the Live Theatre Honorary Award in a lively presentation from friends and colleagues Paula Penman and Jude Nelson - prompting one of the loudest cheers of the night.
Other special moments included Ukrainian artists Ivanna Nitsak and Volodymyr Piterov - who recently brought their play, Silence to Live’s stage - being awarded the Spirit of the North East Award. Presenting the honour, North East actor, singer and writer, Jimmy Nail delivered a heartfelt speech about the importance of ensuring that people with something to say are given the platform to say it.
Live Theatre’s artistic director Jack McNamara, who hosted the evening, highlighted both the strength of submissions and the range of voices emerging from across the region.
“Playwrights have more to say than ever right now,” he said. “We were overwhelmed with submissions and judged every one anonymously. So these are very worthy winners and we are thrilled that they happen to cover such a wide spread of the North East region.
“We are also very happy to be able to shout about some truly unsung heroes. Ali Pritchard who changed the game in the North East with Alphabetti, Tracey Sinclair who is one of our most devoted regional critics, the great Hamzeh Al Hussien and our two Ukrainian colleagues Ivanna Nitsak and Volodymyr Piterov. The North East new work scene is feeling very exciting indeed.”
Supported by the Northern School of Art, the biennial awards are open to writers aged 16 and over from, living in, or working in the North East - and if this year’s ceremony proved anything, it’s that the pipeline of talent is not only strong, but thriving.
As the applause rang out across the auditorium and conversations spilled into the bar afterwards, the overriding feeling was one of community - a room full of people championing each other, and a region continuing to tell its own stories, loudly and proudly.