A new playwriting prize dedicated to comedy has been launched in honour of Victoria Wood on what would have been the standup and writer’s 70th birthday.
The Victoria Wood playwriting prize for comedy is the brainchild of Sean Foley, the artistic director of Birmingham Rep. Foley called comedy “perhaps the most difficult genre of all” and said the new award is “the first major playwriting prize for narrative stage comedy in the world”. The competition is open to all, with submissions accepted from September. The winner will receive £25,000.
The prize has been conceived in partnership with The Victoria Wood Foundation. It is not just a fitting tribute to Wood’s “trailblazing comic talent” but also to Birmingham’s rich heritage of humour, added Foley, citing Midlands legends such as Julie Walters, Lenny Henry, Joe Lycett and Meera Syal. Wood, who was born and raised in Lancashire, went to Birmingham University to study drama. There, she took part in impromptu cabaret nights in the department’s theatre, performing self-penned songs. Wood wrote the comedy stage plays Talent (1978) and Good Fun (1980) before becoming a household name on television and one of Britain’s best-loved comedians. She died of cancer at the age of 62 in 2016.
Foley, who said that supporting new plays has never been more important, hopes the prize will help to turn Birmingham Rep into “a national home for theatrical comedy – where writing, developing and creating that art is taken seriously”. As an actor, writer and director he is well versed in comedy himself. Spitting Image: The Musical, which he co-wrote and directed, transfers from Birmingham Rep to London’s West End this month.