Eoin McAndrew wins Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award

Eoin McAndrew has been named winner of the Verity Bargate Award from a record 1,700 entrants.

Sponsored by production company Character 7, the award sees McAndrew win £8,000 for an exclusive option for Soho Theatre to produce his winning script, Little Brother.

In addition to a full London run, the play will receive workshops and rehearsed readings in India and the United States.

Discussing the importance of competitions such as the Verity Bargate Award, McAndrew expressed gratitude and described them as a “route into the industry that people recognise”, adding that it had been “nice to meet other writers and hopefully support other writers” thanks to the selection process.

Chair of the prize, Stephen Garrett of Character 7, said: “In the few years that we have been sponsoring the Verity Bargate Award, the bar for great and inspiring writing from emerging voices just gets higher and higher.

“This year’s shortlist was of an extraordinarily high quality and in truth any of the five plays would have been deserving winners. Little Brother is very beautiful, true, immensely moving, oh-so personal, and somehow universal, too. I can’t wait to see the play on stage.”

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