My play Fool’s Gold is the winner of the Lancaster Playwriting Award for 2023 and will have a rehearsed reading in the Moor Space at The Dukes on 21st April 7.30pm at The Dukes as part of BLAST FEST.
The 2023 award, which aims to support and showcase emerging writers in the North, was this year open to any writer identifying as d/Deaf, disabled or neurodiverse. Each playwright entered anonymously, meaning all scripts were judged on their own merit by impartial readers, with no knowledge of the writer’s background or previous experience.
This year’s judges were Lancaster University alumna and prize funder and actor Lucy Briers, Lancaster University’s Dr Tajinder Singh Hayer, Director of the Dukes Karen O’Neill and theatre maker Alice Christina-Corrigan.
Lucy Briers said: “I found this play engaging, funny and original. I loved the way the main character’s dyspraxia wasn’t how she was defined, it was what drove her to be so inventive. I also thoroughly enjoyed the friction of the fairy-tale premise of making gold being set in such a ‘kitchen sink’ environment. What made it the winning piece for me was that it was somehow believable. No mean feat!”
Alice Christina-Corrigan said: “Dynamic characters within a compelling, refreshing and interesting storyline ensured this play was one not to forget. A story led by sisterhood and its complexities, touching upon money and societies place in our relationships. A vibrant story which kept me interested from page one, wanting to know more, wanting to see where the story went and I was not disappointed. A wonderful play, wonderfully written.”
Dr Tajinder Singh Hayer said: “I’m always interested in stories that are able to weave a sense of argument through them. And Fool’s Gold has a deceptively simple question at its heart: what do we consider valuable? The play then uses this to probe with real urgency at the age we now live in.”
Karen O’Neill said: “Fool’s Gold is a funny and heart-warming tale about the power of seeing things from a different perspective. Centring on the relationship between two siblings the story looks at how the pressures of everyday life can lead us all into making questionable decisions. Matthew Gabrielli’s script looks at neurodiversity and relationships allowing the work to be driven by the core characters who move the story along at pace. This is a relatable and fresh piece of work.”
You can read the full press release and judges comments on the play on the University of Lancaster website and you can book tickets from The Dukes for £5.
Matthew Gabrielli 