Peter Tinniswood Award 2008,
for plays broadcast during 2007
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TINNISWOOD AWARD WINNER 2008
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Society of Authors are delighted to announce the winners of this year's Imison and Tinniswood awards for radio drama, which were presented by Pauline McLynn at a ceremony at the British Academy in London last night. Photographs from the award ceremony will be put online shortly.
pictures from the Imison & Tinniswood awards (2008)
The Tinniswood Award was presented to Stephen Wyatt for his play ‘Memorials to the Missing’. The judges said of the play:
“This is a play about burying the dead – primarily the dead soldiers of the First World War, which had an impact on the disposal of corpses of those killed in all subsequent wars. Interestingly it is based on fact, on the efforts of one man, Major General Fabian Ware, to persuade the authorities, against strong opposition from Church and State, to establish cemeteries of identifiable graves for those killed in battle. This led to the establishment of The Imperial War Graves Commission of which Ware was put in charge and for which, again against strong opposition, ecclesiastical and architectural, Sir Edwin Lutyens provided the design plans.
So much for fact. The fiction imagines the voices of dead soldiers, reading their diaries or thinking their thoughts aloud, who seek the recognition of their buried remains by mourning relatives. We hear too the relatives searching for an identifiable place to mourn over their lost loved ones.
This intermingling of fact and fiction makes for a poignant play which is perfect for radio and a play, not without humour, of great emotional power. All the judges privately confessed that it reduced them to tears – and they are no “softies” either!”
Stephen was awarded a prize of £1500, which was kindly donated by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society.
Colin Teevan’s play ‘Glass Houses’ was highly recommended by the judges and he received a digital radio, donated by Pure Digital.
The judges for this year's Tinniswood Award were Jane Anderson, Radio Editor of the Radio Times, Shelley Silas who has written numerous plays for radio and the stage and John Tydeman, who used to be Head of Radio Drama at the BBC and played a key role radio drama there for nearly four decades.
SHORTLIST:
The Tinniswood Award honours the best original radio drama script broadcast in the UK during the period 1 January – 31 December 2007.
The shortlist for the Tinniswood Award 2008 was:
LOVE CONTRACT by Mike Bartlett
YESTERDAY AN INCIDENT OCCURRED by Mark Ravenhill
WASTED by Shelagh Stephenson
GLASS HOUSES by Colin Teevan
AVOID LONDON by Mike Walker
MEMORIALS TO THE MISSING by Stephen Wyatt
The judges for this year's Tinniswood Award:
Jane Anderson , Radio Editor of the Radio Times.
Shelley Silas , whose radio plays include, The Sound of Silence, Ink, Calcutta Kosher, The Magpie Stories, Collective Fascination, as well as adaptations of Hanan Al-Shaykh’s novel Only in London and a co-adaptation with John Harvey of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet.
John Tydeman , who played a key role in BBC radio drama for nearly four decades, as producer, Assistant Head and then Head of Radio Drama.
For further information about the Imison or Tinniswood Awards, please contact Naomi MacDonald at the Writers’ Guild on 020 7833 0777 or at naomi@writersguild.org.uk. We would also be grateful if the producers of the plays listed and the agents of those shortlisted writers would contact us.
2004 SHORTLIST AND WINNER
2005 SHORTLIST AND WINNER
2006 SHORTLIST AND WINNER
2007 SHORTLIST AND WINNER
NOTES ON THE PLAYS
LOVE CONTRACT
by Mike Bartlett (R4, 1415, 14 Nov 07) was an interesting second radio play by the winner of the 2006 Tinniswood and Imison Radio Drama Awards. Emma works in a large office complex, supervised closely by her manager. It's only when she begins seeing Darren, one of her colleagues, after work, that she realises just how closely she's being watched. She's in serious danger of breaking her contract - the "Love Contract". There was one very nasty graveyard scene, but that didn't stop it being a well-constructed play; a two-hander between Emma (Claire Rushbrook) and her manager (Ellie Haddington), who subjects her to a series of increasingly intimidating interviews. Echoes of Orwell's "1984". The producer was Claire Grove.
.......N.D., VRPCC newsletter, Dec 07.
YESTERDAY AN INCIDENT OCCURRED
By Mark Ravenhill: After an unprovoked attack takes place in a shopping centre, no one comes forward as a witness. How can justice be done? 20 Apr 08, R3.
.......Radiolistings website
WASTED
By Shelagh Stephenson. Martha heads up marketing for an alcopop, aimed unashamedly at the teenage market. But when the 16-year-old son of her oldest friend is admitted to hospital in an alcoholic coma, some hard questions have to be answered. Friday play.
Martha....Juliet Aubrey
Tom....Julian Wadham
Mike....Mark Lambert
Mary....Marion O'Dwyer
Pete....John Mcandrew
Charlie....Miche Doherty
Luke....Greg Fox.
..........BBC publicity
GLASS HOUSES
By Colin Teevan. R4, 13 Jan 07. Friday play. I can't do better here than quote part of a piece by Larry Slade, who's from New York and regularly writes reviews of BBC plays. His website is at: www.earstory.blogspot.com/2007/01/glass-houses.html, and the complete review can be found there..
.....As we peer in at them it appears that they were once a happy couple. They both agree on that point. In this play we hear from both sides in cross-cut monologues. Wife, perhaps to a journalist sometime after the fact. Husband, into a cassette audio tape recorder.
It is harsh, angry, sad, troubling, but also devilishly clever and delightfully murky. Only two voices are heard through the hour. Husband is played by Greg Hicks. Wife by Clare Higgins. Both are excellent.
Of course the real star of this piece is the author Colin Teevan . He presents, doesn't tell too much, steps back, and allows the listener to do the rest.
The play was directed by David Hunter with tasteful and effective music cues throughout.
.....used with Larry Slade's permission - many thanks.
AVOID LONDON....AREA CLOSED....TURN ON RADIO....
Culmination of a week of dramas by Mike Walker, focusing on how a family coped with the real and terrible events of 7/7 and how they set about rebuilding their lives.
Paul Demeril ...... David Calder
Gracie Demeril ...... Margot Leicester,
Mary ...... Elizabeth Spriggs,
Zipper ...... Leanne Rowe,
Imogen ...... Saskia Wickham,
Manjit ...... Sameena Zehra,
Ayeesha ...... Jane Slavin,
Monk ...... Paul Panting,
Gray ...... Ricci McLeod,
Carrie ...... Jasmine Callan,
Tanya ...... Rachel Bavidge,
Paramedic ...... John Dougall,
Fireman ...... Anthony Glennon.
.........from BBC publicity.
MEMORIALS TO THE MISSING
8 Nov 07. Stephen Wyatt's play follows moves during the First World War to establish an Imperial War Graves Commission to record the graves of those killed in action. Cast: Fabian Ware ...... Anton Lesser, Edwin Lutyens ...... Michael Maloney, Macready ...... Keith Drinkel, Florence Cecil ...... Theresa Gallagher, Alice/nurse ...... Sophie Roberts, Soldiers ...... Karl Davies; Alex Wyndham; Ben Crowe; directed by Martin Jenkins. Excellent play showing how persistence can overcome bureaucracy. This play won a silver Sony Drama Award.
......from BBC publicity
