Soho Theatre Reveals Verity Bargate Award 2026 Longlist and Shortlist

Following 2,219 new plays submitted, Soho Theatre has announced the 6 shortlisted and 16 longlisted plays for this year's Verity Bargate Award. The new playwriting prize, sponsored by Character 7, is Soho Theatre's flagship new writing award with the winning play produced in a full production on our stages.

The winner and the Character 7 Commision will be announced at a ceremony at Soho Theatre on 20 October. The winner will receive £12,000 for an exclusive option for Soho Theatre to produce the prize-winning play, and a full London run of the play staged at Soho Theatre. The Character 7 Commission, selected by Verity Bargate Award sponsor Character 7 in consultation with Soho Theatre, includes a commission by Soho Theatre to join the 2027 cohort of writers on Soho ReDraft, a programme aimed at supporting playwrights in developing existing first drafts of their plays into production-ready scripts.

The shortlisted plays feature: two Taliban fighters atop an ancient Budha statue engaging in banter, prayer and debate; a love story between two souls spanning hundreds of years; the tumultuous life of a young boy in foster care; the sacrifices made during crunch period at a South London indie video game studio; a contemporary retelling of the Greek myth of Ajax set in a water company; and a spiritual awakening on a Texan farm.

The Shortlisted Plays:

• The Faithfuls by Elham Ehsas
• The History by Tife Kusoro
• The Last of the Watermelon Kid by Robert Akodoto
• Voyagers by Ava Wong Davies
• Water After Ajax by Billie Collins
• The Wilderness by Philippa Lawford

The Longlisted Plays:

• attack of the 50ft black woman by Asa Haynes
• Aunties in the USSR by Rebecca Banatvala
• Black Holes by Suleyman Wellings-Longmore
• Forest People by Rhianna Adesuwa Ilube
• How a Sting Tracks, Post-Show Talk by Jacob Hodgkinson
• Mad Youth Organise by Chloe Yates
• Misandry by Jonathan Neil
• Night Side by Farah Najib
• Remember, Remember by Sid Sagar
• Ripe by Annie Jenkins
• Softboy by Aisling Towl
• SPUNK by Héctor Manchego
• Things That Might Become by Liz Bacon
• Third Culture Kid by Francis Grin
• This Play Has Nothing to Do With the 20th Century novel Mephisto, by Klaus Mann (Because That is About Nazis and Therefore Does Not Apply) by Joel Samuels
• We're Gonna Kill Billy by Alex Medland