2015 Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting

“Alive and living in this time and place."

A quote from the Griffin Awards winning play, Turquoise Blue by Stephen Carleton

2015 marks the eighteenth year that Griffin Theatre and Copyright Agency Limited have awarded $10,000 to a new Australian writer for their work. This is still a prestigious award. 

The evening began with Lee Lewis, Artistic Director of Griffin, describing the decision process. From 148 entries a group judges create a shortlist of five scripts to be read on the night. Lewis told of the judges asking "What do you want from the scripts?" Griffin theatre has open doors to new works and established pieces and therefore doesn't single out or shy away from certain themes or genres so really what Griffin wants is what its audience wants. The first audience for these new plays are the Griffin Awards judges. 

The overarching theme for the 2015 shortlist was the issues facing our globe. While watching the actors read each script, I was reminded of evening news and current headlines. Families, the presence of Western forces in Afghanistan, climate change, mental health and reality TV fame are current news topics as well as the general theme of scripts chosen for the short list. By focusing on presenting these ideas the plays serve as a reminder that we need to stop the advance of negative issues in our world. 

A 10 minute excerpt from each script was performed by the actors. Staging was simple as a single afternoon was all that what available to rehearse these exerts. Casting seemed appropriate for each script but it will be interesting to see what differences in cast there will be when the plays are performed in their entirety. Several of the plays were set abroad and the audience was transported by the effortless change of accents amongst the cast. 

The award night is always something to look forward to as it celebrates and endorses new Australian writing. Those included in the short list Home Invasion by Christopher Bryant (Melbourne /Sydney); Looking Glass by Louris van de Geer (Melbourne); Ozymandias by Julian Larnach(Sydney); The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver (Sydney); The Turquoise Elephant by Stephen Carleton (Brisbane). The winner for 2015 was Stephen Carleton. 

Courtney Farrow & Stephen Carnell

Image: Stephen Carleton.

2015 Griffin Award winner Stephen Carleton is a Brisbane-based playwright, and bases his work equally in Brisbane, Darwin and Cairns. He is co-founder of The TENT (Brisbane) and Knock-em-Down Theatre (Darwin).

His full length plays include: Hotel Beche de Mer, Bastard Territory, The Narcissist, Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset and Choking in the Comfort Zone.

Companies he has worked with include Queensland Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, La Boite Theatre Company, Darwin Theatre Company, Brown’s Mart, JUTE, Tamarama Rock Surfers, La Mama and the Gold Coast Arts Centre.

Awards: 2006 New Dramatists Award, New York residency. 2004/5 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award (Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset)