Two Winners Revealed For Soho Theatre Tony Craze Award 2023

 

Soho Theatre has announced its joint winners of the 2023 Tony Craze Award – Laith Elzubaidi and Maryam Garad. The highly commended award goes to Cal-I Jonel. This is the first time, since the award's inception, that the top prize has been awarded to two writers.

Jessica Draper, Head of Creative Engagement at Soho Theatre said: “It's been a privilege to spend time with this year's writers, who developed and crafted exceptional plays as part of Soho Theatre's acclaimed Writer's Lab. Huge congratulations go to the writers who captivated us with their skill and dynamism. Collectively their plays cover a spectrum of genres, worlds and interests, and combine a remarkable command of language with ambitious theatrical vision. 

“In a first for the Tony Craze Award, we're thrilled to be announcing two winners. Markedly different in form, character and setting, the judges unanimously agreed to award Maryam Garad's Reparations and Laith Elzubaidi's Insane Asylum Seekers, thanks to the contemporary significance of both plays' cultural contexts.

“At Soho Theatre we're committed to identifying and nurturing fresh, original and compelling voices. Our annual Tony Craze Award continues to be a significant force for celebrating and recognising early-career writers. As these writers and artists will almost certainly be blazing a trail of acclaim in the years to come, we're proud to be at the beginning of this journey with them.”

2023 TONY CRAZE AWARD SHORTLIST:

Fat Do as Fat Does by Lashay Green

Filthy Animal by Rosie Race

WINNER: Insane Asylum Seekers by Laith Elzubaidi

PRESSURE by Danny Bailey

WINNER: Reparations by Maryam Garad

HIGHLY COMMENDED: There's a Mouse in the Kitchen by Cal-I Jonel

Insane Asylum Seekers by Laith Elzubaidi is a multi-generational story of a British-Iraqi refugee family. Reparations by Maryam Garad is the story of a Somali woman's journey with infatuation, stolen identity and systematic neglect. There's a Mouse in the Kitchen by Cal-I Jonel centres themes of brotherhood and grief under the pressure of a looming deadline.

Reparations can be seen at Soho Theatre on 9 & 12 February as part of the annual Soho Rising festival.

The Tony Craze Award (formerly Soho Young Writers' Award) is named in honour of Soho Theatre's former Artistic Director and first ever Verity Bargate Award winner who passed away in 2016. Applications are open each year to writers on Soho Theatre's Writer's Lab - an entry-level course supporting new writers to create a play over nine months. Previous winners include Somebody Jones with All My Friends Are Dead, Louis Emmitt-Stern with Slippery, Fran Bushe with A Gig for Ghosts, Farah Najib with Dirty Dogs, Adam Narat for Birthright (renamed New Pacific), Phoebe Eclair-Powell with Fury, Charlie Josephine with Bitch Boxer, and Patrick Russell with Antlers.

 

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