Simon Annand Photo Exhibit Opens Next Month at Royale Exchange

An exhibition of new photographs by Simon Annand of some of Britain's leading playwrights will open at the Royal Exchange in Manchester this April, to mark the 10th anniversary of The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

The exhibition includes revealing new portraits of Sir Tom Stoppard at the National Theatre, Sir David Hare in his study, Roy Williams at his kitchen table, Sarah Solemani in the bath, Tanika Gupta in her garden, Olivier Award-winner Bola Agbaje looking over the London streets that inspire her, and Johnny Vegas in a rowing boat, as well as previous Bruntwood Prize winners Duncan Macmillan and Anna Jordan, previous Bruntwood judges Simon Stephens, Bryony Lavery and Meera Syal, and award-winning cross-disciplinary writers Mat Fraser and Jackie Kay.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting commissioned the acclaimed photographer Simon Annand to photograph a selection of British playwrights in the places where they work and find inspiration. An exhibition of the resulting photographs will open at the Royal Exchange Theatre on 25 April 2015 - the same night as the opening of The Rolling Stone, Chris Urch's play which won a Judge's Award in the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, a joint venture between Manchester property company Bruntwood and the Royal Exchange, is the UK's biggest playwriting competition. Since its inception in 2005, over 7000 scripts have been entered, £160,000 has been awarded to 15 prize winning writers and ten winning productions have been staged. It is open to writers in the UK and Ireland aged 16 and over. Entries can be submitted online at www.writeaplay.co.uk. The closing date is 6pm on 5th June 2015.

The 2013 Bruntwood Prize was won by Anna Jordan's play YEN, which received its world premiere at the Royal Exchange earlier this month, running until 7th March 2015.

Also premiering at the Royal Exchange later this year will be THE ROLLING STONE by Chris Urch, which was a winner of a Judges Award at the 2013 Bruntwood Prize. The production will be directed by award-winning director Ellen McDougall.

Simon Annand has been a photographer for over 30 years focusing on all aspects of the theatre, including production and rehearsal photos, posters, headshots, editorial commission and his own project called The Half about actors preparing for the stage. Companies Simon has worked for include the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court, Comédie-Française, Moscow Arts Theatre, Theatre de Complicite, Sonia Friedman Productions, Glyndebourne and many other leading theatre producers. The Half is a book published by Faber & Faber and an exhibition toured by the V&A (London, UK, Paris, New York and Moscow) since 2008. It has been widely acclaimed for the rarity and intimacy of the images. The photos are taken in the 30 minutes before curtain up in the dressing rooms of London's top theatre. The aim is to promote theatre as live performance and there has been enthusiastic support from actors. Among those who have contributed are Cate Blanchett, Martin Sheen, Juliette Binoche, Daniel Craig, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Judi Dench, Kathleen Turner, Michael Gambon, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Helen Mirren, Daniel Radcliffe, Glenn Close and Mark Rylance.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is Britain's biggest playwriting competition. This round will mark the 10th anniversary of the Prize, which has supported the development and productions of a significant number of playwrights since its inception in 2005. 17 playwrights have been awarded a total of £160,000. There have been thirteen critically acclaimed productions of winning entries, as well as a number of productions of plays elsewhere that were identified through the judging process.

Over 9,000 entries have been generated from across the United Kingdom and winning playwrights have gone on to have work produced at the Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, on Broadway and in the West End. It is a significant investment in playwrights and support for new work on stage. More information about the Prize can be found at www.writeaplay.co.uk/about.

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