Enda Walsh
Chair of Judging Panel, Tony Award-winning playwright
The Phil Fox Award for Playwriting, which is named after OETC’s founder, invites playwrights with any level of experience from across the UK to submit full-length scripts about issues related to addiction.
The inaugural competition winner, Silas Perry, received a £6,000 commission from OETC to continue developing his winning script, Lessons for Diving. He also received mentoring from multi-award winning playwright Enda Walsh, who chaired the judging panel.
The 2020 competition opened for entries from March 16th to June 16th with the winner announced in early November. Submitted full-length plays from UK residents had to be original, unproduced and about issues related to addiction.
Playwrights needed to clearly articulate how their scripts related to these issues, which was not limited to substance misuse or alcohol abuse, but also included subject matter involving non-chemical addictions, such as social media or sex addiction. Plays could also explore the social or structural determinants that contribute to addiction, such as access to services or the supply chain of an addictive product. The characters did not need to be addicts; for example, plays about people directly affected by another person’s addiction, such as family members of addicts, were also be accepted.
The inaugural competition received 350 submissions and 70% of the playwrights who submitted scripts identified as being personally affected by addiction.
“We’ve assembled a fantastic judging panel who share my admiration and respect for Outside Edge Theatre Company. We are all very much looking forward to receiving these plays. To those writers – get writing – be brave with your submissions – and the very best of luck with the work.” —Enda Walsh, Chair of 2020 Phil Fox Award Judging Panel
Out of 350 submissions, the following scripts and playwrights were selected by our team of readers as the finalists for the 2020 Phil Fox Award for Playwriting:
Boomerang by Jack Stanley
Drift by Kristian Phillips
Lessons for Diving by Silas Parry
Pushing on Open Doors by Sarah Connors
What’s Lost in the Gaps by Jack Robson
Lessons for Diving
by Silas Parry
Danny has taken care of Jo since their Mum died of an overdose.
After working long days for a Grimsby drug dealer, Danny comes home at night and coaxes his little brother back from terrifying visions of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Jo helps Danny bag up the brown powder, but when a Mexican fisherman warns Jo about the predators circling Danny every day, their plans to stop his brother dealing go badly wrong.
And as Danny’s job spirals out of control, Jo is caught in his own battle with a giant, man-eating Humboldt Squid.
This is Silas Parry’s playwriting debut. He has previously been selected for the BBC Writersroom, and received a BAFTA Los Angeles scholarship to support an MFA in dramatic writing at the Rita & Burton Goldberg Department, TISCH / NYU. He is also a visual artist, and has most recently exhibited at Contemporary Art Space Osaka.
“This is the best news, I’m so honoured to receive the inaugural Phil Fox Award. The play is close to my heart, and it means a huge amount that the judging panel responded to Jo and Danny’s story. Outside Edge’s unique approach to theatre makes them the perfect home for this project, and I really can’t wait to work on Lessons for Diving with them and Enda Walsh. Thank you for this amazing opportunity!” —Silas Parry, 2020 Phil Fox Award Winner
“I’d like to add my congratulations to Silas Parry for winning the inaugural Phil Fox Award for his play Lessons For Diving. Remarkably it’s his first play and the daring of its execution, his sensitivity and handling of these complex characters – marked Silas’ play out from a very strong shortlist. Thank you to my fellow judges. We are all so excited to have found such an original voice full of its own theatrical expression. Magic realism in Grimsby never looked so good!” —Enda Walsh, Chair of 2020 Phil Fox Award Judging Panel
In recognition of the exceptional quality of submissions, judges also awarded Special Commendations to two finalist playwrights for their scripts: Kristian Phillips (Drift) and Jack Stanley (Boomerang).
Along with Lessons for Diving, the two Special Commendation scripts received a package of development support and a public reading in July 2021.
“I cannot imagine a better gift for a theatre company than to receive Silas Parry’s imaginative, heartfelt Lessons For Diving. Along with the two Fox Award Special Commendation plays, I am excited to continue developing this ambitious script from such an exceptionally promising writer…And with almost 70% of playwrights who submitted for this year’s competition identifying as being affected by addiction, I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the legacy of the company’s founding Artistic Director, Phil Fox.” —Matt Steinberg, Artistic Director of Outside Edge Theatre Company
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