Playwrights ‘73 Awards Reveals Cohort Of Writers For 2026

The recipients of the Playwrights '73 Award have been announced, which places 4 playwrights with 4 theatres around the UK for 18 months and funds them to write a new play. The scheme is primarily supported by The Peggy Ramsay Foundation, with additional support from The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund.

Cordelia Lynn will work with the Orange Tree Theatre, Carley McGee will work with Kabosh Theatre, Tolu Okanlawon will work with the Arcola Theatre and AJ Yi with the Bush Theatre. Each playwright will receive £15,000 through the duration of the 18 month project to write a new play.

Cordelia Lynn said: “I'm thrilled to be working with the Orange Tree. It's a gorgeous, intimate space and I can't wait to get stuck into writing a new play for it. With this bursary, Playwrights 73 have given us real freedom and support to develop the work and the relationship, and I'm grateful for their belief in our collaboration.”

Tom Littler, Artistic Director, Orange Tree Theatre said: “We've been looking for an excuse to work with Cordelia for some time, so we're delighted that Playwrights '73 has finally given us one. She is one of the most exciting voices out there: a writer of enormous talent, curiosity and originality, whose work we have long admired. We are thrilled to support her as she develops new work during her attachment to our theatre over the next eighteen months.”

Carley Magee said: "This opportunity is a vital next step in my career as a writer, not only receiving support for a fully commissioned piece of work but to extensively collaborate with Kabosh; a company whose work I have admired and been inspired by for years. Over the past year I have worked on their Civic Voices Project, a partnership with ArtsEkta, to facilitate and write with communities around Belfast. I have found this work to be incredibly meaningful and rewarding; engaging with these communities continually ignites my creativity and strengthens my skills. The purpose of my work is always to be socially engaged, so to continue to work with Kabosh on a silenced narrative such as the Mother and Baby homes, bringing these stories, truth, and justice to audiences, under their guidance, is incredibly exciting. I absolutely cannot wait to get started. I would like to thank the panel at Playwrights '73 and Kabosh for this bursary, to be invested in as an artist while the Northern Irish arts sector remains underfunded, and faces serious issues with standstill funding, is a rare opportunity. The combination of creative space, business skills, and mentorship I will receive in the following 18-months is a necessary learning to sustain my career as a writer."

Paula McFetridge, Artistic Director Kabosh said: “Carley (Magee) is a gifted, exciting Belfast playwright with the potential to creatively interrogate the legacy of institutional oppression and expose injustice to multiple audiences. Playwrights 73 investment aƯords Kabosh and Carley the necessary time and space to serve diƯicult personal testimonies and supported research through an appropriate, impactful, quality narrative. This programme allows Carley to become embedded in Kabosh, learning from the other freelance artists with access to the process of independent theatre delivery. It is an invaluable fully rounded 18-month opportunity committed to nurturing the next generation of theatre-makers. Kabosh is so pleased with this outcome.”

Tolu Okanlawon said: “I'm so honoured to be selected for the Playwrights '73 award. The scheme has supported many writers that I greatly admire, so I'm deeply grateful to the Peggy Ramsay Foundation for this opportunity.

Opportunities that provide writers with time, trust and practical support are increasingly rare, so this award means a great deal. It's made even more special by the fact that I'll have the full support of The Arcola, my local theatre. I really look forward to working closely with the team and spending the next eighteen months focused on writing a shiny new play.”

Mehmet Ergen, Executive Artistic Director, Arcola Theatre said: “We are incredibly proud to have been selected for the Playwrights '73 Award and to be partnering with Tolu Okanlawon, whom we consider one of the most exciting voices emerging in theatre today. This award is a vital source of support for our industry, giving us the opportunity to not only collaborate with a brilliant new writer, but helping to lay the foundations for what we hope will be a long and enduring creative relationship. For that we are truly thankful.

Tolu's writing is thrilling. With care, intelligence and maturity, he engages deeply with social and political themes while creating work that is bold, distinctive and wholly original; exactly the kind of voice Arcola has championed since our very beginning.”

AJ Yi said: "I'm over the moon to be working with the Bush Theatre again, since my debut commission with them, A Playlist For The Revolution, taught me so much as a playwright. As a trans, politically-engaged, person of colour, I often feel like I need to hold back my vision and voice. Through this collaboration, I'm being encouraged to lean into what feels most truthful to me, which is affirming and exciting. The new play that I'm developing with the Bush is one that I've wanted to write for a long time. It feels more vulnerable, theatrically experimental, and thematically ambitious, than anything I've written before. I'm grateful to have the support from Taio, Olivia, Frey and Peggy Ramsay to bring this vision to life and can't wait to see where our collaboration goes."

Bush Theatre representative said: "We are so delighted to be collaborating with AJ Yi and meaningfully continue a relationship that started with the Bush several years ago. AJ is a brilliant playwright, and we feel that their approach to theatrical storytelling really aligns with our commitment to seeking out and nurturing complex and expansive work. We are hugely thankful to Peggy Ramsay for their vital support of AJ and of the Bush in our ongoing development of exciting and essential artists.”

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