The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting takes the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by storm this summer
This summer writers from the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting will have a fantastic presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Not only will our 2022 winner Nathan Queeley-Dennis premiere his brilliant, funny, heart-warming play Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz, but Bruntwood Prize shortlisted writer Miriam Battye will also see her play Strategic Love Play run for the festival. Both productions will take place at the Roundabout @ Summerhall. We’re also delighted to announce that the 2019 Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play Salty Irina by Eve Leigh is part of the visiting artists presenting work at Paines Plough.
Nathan Queeley-Dennis’ debut play is a love letter to Birmingham, exploring Black masculinity through Beyonce lyrics, techno raves and the deeply intimate relationship between a man and his barber. This one-man play will also be performed by writer Queeley-Dennis. it runs from 2-27 August.
‘Nathaniel is a serious romantic who sees love as a fine art. He’s looking for the Mona Lisa to his da Vinci, and tonight is the night: his date with Destiny…’s Child.’
Nathan Queeley-Dennis is an actor and writer from Birmingham. Acting credits include As You Like It (@sohoplace); Black Love (Kiln Theatre); A Taste of Honey (National Theatre); Really Big and Really Loud (Paines Plough); Little Baby Jesus (Birmingham REP); Rebel Music (Middle Child); Pinocchio (Orange Tree Theatre) and Doctors (BBC).
This world premiere production is presented at Roundabout by Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough, in association with Royal Exchange Theatre. Directed by Bruntwood Prize Award ceremony 2022 co-director Dermot Daly, Queeley-Dennis makes his return to Roundabout after performing in the Roundabout 2021 season (Black Love, Really Big and Really Loud).
Paines Plough, Soho Theatre and Belgrade Theatre will also present the acidically witty Strategic Love Play, a world premiere from Bruntwood Prize shortlisted writer Miriam Battye (little scratch, Scenes With Girls) interrogating modern dating and what we really talk about when we talk about love. It will be directed by Paines Plough Co-Artistic Director Katie Posner (You Bury Me, Hungry). Miriam was the first writer in residence at Sister Pictures and has written widely for TV, most recently as a Story Editor on the latest season of HBO’s wildly popular Succession. She has been shortlisted for both Paines Plough’s Women’s Prize and the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and is the 2020 recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission. Strategic Love Play will preview at Belgrade Theatre in July before its run at Roundabout @ Summerhall.
Eve Leigh is a playwright and theatre maker. Her Bruntwood play Salty Irina is the story of two queer girls in love, who see fascism rising in their university town and decide to do something to stop it. But when they go undercover to a local far-right festival, they are shocked by what they find.
Find all these incredible Bruntwood Prize plays in Edinburgh this summer.
