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11th March 2026
Celebrating The Finalists of The Future Playwright Competition
It was a fantastic evening of creativity, collaboration, and celebration, featuring script-in-hand readings of the finalists’ plays, brought to life by our incredibly talented acting and directing students.
A huge thank you to everyone who submitted a play, it was a real pleasure reading all of your brilliant three-page scripts.
Congratulations as well to our Top 12 shortlisted writers:
Matthew McConkey, Tim Poultney, Ayọ̀ Owóyẹmi-Peters, Ben Greenwood, Ginny Leigh, Adam Turns, Seth Winkley, Noah Robinson, Honey Smith, Jacob Ethan Tanner, Lucy Singer, Evanthe Gee.
And of course, a special congratulations to our six finalists, whose work we had the joy of sharing on the night.
Six plays that were performed on the evening:
1. And The Word Was God by Matthew McConkey
2. Whatever Happened to Old Harry’s Wife? by Tim Poultney
3. Ivory by Ayọ̀ Owóyẹmi-Peters
4. Connor and The Bear by Ben Greenwood
5. Pilot by Ginny Leigh
6. Blast Beach by Adam Turns
We’re delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Future Playwrights Competition is Ayọ̀ Owóyẹmi-Peters for their play Ivory. Congratulations to Ayọ̀ on this fantastic achievement, we were thrilled to see Ivory brought to life.
Ayọ̀ Owóyẹmi-Peters is an actor-writer, who has performed on London’s West End and featured on Netflix. Ayọ̀ began her writing journey with poetry and spoken word, and has been transitioning to dramatic writing. Her first audio play aired on BBC Radio 6 in 2020. She is currently working on her first stage play. Heavily influenced by her faith and the presence of Jesus in her life, the North Star for Ayọ̀’s writing is revealing that all our stories are seen and heard, and profoundly known by God.
Play Context – Ivory is a response to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. While reading the novella, I was struck by how silenced the African characters were. Similar to Percival Everett’s James, this reimagining centres the perspectives of characters denied an autonomous story. Inspired by Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners, this piece is written entirely in Pidgin English. It invites you to immerse yourself in the world of siblings Nuani and Masika as the pressure of the encroaching European ivory traders grows.
Whether you applied this year or didn’t get the chance, keep your eyes peeled for next year’s Future Playwrights Competition. We can’t wait to discover more exciting new writing and emerging voices.
There’s still time to apply to our MA Drama Writing Postgraduate course, the deadline is the 19th March at 4pm.
