The Stage Debut Awards winners: Emerging playwrights need more support

"To be able to afford to sit in front of your computer and have time to write is a game changer," she told The Stage. "I started and never finished a lot of plays because I just couldn’t afford to sit and write, with the cost of living.

"To champion writers is vital. We need money, time, space and mentorship. To get your work read, and to get feedback, is invaluable."

Grabiner said: "To have an opportunity to put your first play on takes a long, long time to happen. The more support out there to jump over that first hurdle, the better." 

The writers also advocated for work that provoked discomfort and made audiences "squirm".

Oforka said staging colonial history was crucial in a country that was "in denial about its history".

"A collective understanding can only help society," she added. "We need to shine a light on those stories. It’s something I feel really passionate about." 

Oforka, who has also worked on screen as an actor, also said that as a public, live art form with a relatively captive audience, theatre was well-placed to confront difficult, under-acknowledged issues such as colonialism.

"Feeling a bit uncomfortable, that pressure cooker atmosphere – it’s good to squirm in your seat and not be able to escape," she said. "With TV, you can just switch off or change the channel." 

Grabiner also described the atmosphere of his award-winning debut play, set entirely within the graffitied walls of a men’s public toilet, as making audiences uncomfortable at times, as it teetered between comedy and violence. 

He said: "I’m very interested in theatre that is a difficult experience for an audience to sit through, an experience that feels divisive. When you get it cooking like that, it’s the best place to be in the world."