Neil Levi wins the Original Playwright Award while Tommy Murphy is name Patrick White Fellow.

The Patrick White Playwrights’ Awards, Sydney Theatre Company’s annual prize recognising exceptional Australian theatre writers, has announced its 2016 recipients, awarding Tommy Murphy the coveted Fellowship, and Neil Levi the Original Playwright Award. The Awards are held in honour of the celebrated Australian playwright Patrick White, whose work in the theatre, and focus on fostering the development of young Australian writers has been essential to the vibrancy of the industry. The Awards, first instituted in 2000, has been supplemented over the last six years with the offering of a Fellowship to help support the work of a more established, mid-career playwright.

The Fellowship, given this year to Tommy Murphy, offers the recipient $12,500, and a commission for a new play to be premiered by the STC. Already established as one of the most exciting writers working today in Australian theatre, Murphy’s screenplay for the feature film Holding the Man has won a string of awards, as has his TV drama, Devil’s Playground. On receiving the award, Murphy says: “The Patrick White Fellowship grants everything a playwright ought to need: a desk, a commission, and the encouragement of a theatre company to get that promised play written and on the stage”. Joining an exceptional line-up of past recipients, Murphy becomes part of the canon of great Australian theatre writers championed by the STC in recent years. Previous Patrick White Fellows include Raimondo Cortese, Patricia Cornelius, Hilary Bell, Kate Mulvany and Angela Betzien – all stalwarts of the Australian theatre scene. 

The Patrick White Playwright Award this year went to Neil Levi, for his play Kin, an “absurdist tragedy” about the ins-and-outs of grief, suffering and responsibility. Over 130 scripts were read by the judges before five finalists were shortlisted. 

According to the Sydney Theatre Company, the aim of the awards is to recognise the works of Australian playwrights whose words are “ambitious, demonstrate a skilful application of their craft and reveal great potential for a stage production.” For the first time, the awards ceromony was overseen by incoming Artistic Director Jonathan Church, who will announce his first season with the STC later this year. The British director is currently in the country for the Australian premiere of his blockbuster adaptation of Singin’ in the Rain, which opened last week in Melbourne. 

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