Play-writing for Stage

The Koestler Awards include awards for screenplay, play-writing for radio and play-writing for stage.

The awards for play-writing for stage are sponsored by the Royal Court Theatre.

This year for the first time we had some of the plays performed. In June 2008, the Union Theatre in Southwark staged a 3-week run of "Prose and Cons - a collection of new plays by serving inmates and ex-offenders". The director and actors were professionals, and most of the performances sold out.

Three of the playwrights were 2008 Koestler Award winners - from HMP Shepton Mallet, HMP Stafford and HMP Lewes. Two of the others, Michael Holland and Dean Stalham, have built writing careers since leaving prison.

Click here for production photographs.

One of the playwrights wrote to us from his prison cell:

“When Koestler and the Union Theatre selected some of my work to be performed I was stunned.  In a world where everything is bad something as positive as this is hard to grasp…  Koestler has built up so much self-esteem in prisoners that I believe they are the most effective rehabilitation weapon in the prison system today.”

Helen Dessent, Art tutor at HMP Lewes, had this to say:

"Staff from Lewes Prison came up to the theatre in two groups to see the performances.  We really enjoyed ourselves. It was especially poignant for the staff that have been working with Steve to see his work on the stage delivered by professionals. Steve's demeanour has changed -  he is beaming with pride; the support from everyone at the Koestler Trust has given him enormous encouragement and motivation for the future; he has quizzed us all separately on what we thought, how we found the theatre, who the actors were and how his work was received. We could tell him that the actor delivering his monologue was brilliant, convincingly conveying the characters and his story with his voice and his presence on stage."

We are hoping to make the performances an annual event, and to have them tour to the winning prisons. To do this, we need a sponsor or funder. If you can help, please get in touch with our development worker Hayley Sothinathan hsothinathan@koestlertrust.org.uk .