Steven Vidler Wins The 2025 Silver Gull Play Award For THE VANYA VARIATIONS
The award recognizes original, unproduced works that embody New Theatre’s ethos of “Plays With a Purpose.”
By: A.A. Cristi Oct. 13, 2025
New Theatre has announced that Steven Vidler is the winner of the 2025 Silver Gull Play Award for his bold new play The Vanya Variations. The award recognizes original, unproduced works that embody New Theatre’s ethos of “Plays With a Purpose.”
The Silver Gull Play Award is open to NSW and ACT-based writers over the age of 18 for original, unproduced plays of 60 minutes or more that reflect New Theatre’s ethos of “Plays With a Purpose.”
This year’s competition received a record number of entries, with judges praising the overall quality and originality of submissions. Five plays were shortlisted for the award: The Crypt Dialogues by Peter Fleming, Lavender Sky by Jack Kearney, First, Do No Harm by Grace Malouf, Brief Candle by Simon Thomson, and the winning play, The Vanya Variations by Steven Vidler. Two additional works—Hiding Lights in Dark Places by Meg McDonald and The Bureau of Imagined Genealogy by Zoe Hogan—received High Commendations.
On Monday 13 October, excerpts from the shortlisted plays were performed before a live audience by Matt Abotomey, Kyra Belford-Thomas, Kate Bookallil, Alex Bryant-Smith, and Sonya Kerr, under the direction of Joseph Tanti.
Vidler received a prize of $5,000, while each of the other shortlisted writers received $500, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Joy Minter, who has supported the Silver Gull Play Award since its inception in 2015.
About The Vanya Variations
The Vanya Variations is a bold and playful reimagining of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. The work unfolds through four socially and historically diverse iterations, featuring a gender- and role-switching cast, while Chekhov himself appears as an onstage observer.
The play explores the futility of pinning one’s purpose to another’s ambition, illuminating how our pursuit of grand, unattainable dreams can prevent us from finding meaning in genuine human connection. Both intellectually and emotionally rich, The Vanya Variations draws striking historical and cultural parallels, offering a provocative, humorous, and deeply human theatrical experience.
The judges praised the work as “intense, rich, amazing power, humour and, in the final iteration, a lightning strike of satire illuminating and blasting our contemporary world. This is dazzling work in breadth and depth. It deserves a world stage.”
About the Playwright
Steven Vidler is an award-winning actor, writer, and director. His feature film Blackrock premiered at Sundance and was nominated for five AFI Awards, including Best Film. He co-created the ABC miniseries A Difficult Woman, which won the Silver World Medal at the New York Festivals. His feature Standing Up for Sunny premiered at the Sydney Film Festival and won the 2020 AACTA Award for Best Indie Film.
Vidler holds a PhD from Macquarie University, where he researched the cognitive science of audience engagement with character. He has taught screenwriting at AFTRS and served as a Project Officer and Assessor for Screen NSW and Screen Australia. His previous play, Love Muscle, was performed by the NIDA Company. The Vanya Variations marks his second full-length play and continues his long creative engagement with Chekhov’s work.
Videos