Winners of inaugural Heretic Voices Monologue Competition announced

Heretic Productions today announces that the winners of the inaugural Heretic Voices competition, a competition searching for the best new writing in monologue form, are Annie Fox, Sonya Hale and Tatty Hennessy.

There were 1136 submissions in the first year and the winning plays, chosen by Michael Billington, Lolita Chakrabarti, Monica Dolan and Mel Kenyon, are Woman Caught Unaware by Annie Fox, Dean McBride by Sonya Hale and A Hundred Words for Snow by Tatty Hennessy. The plays will be produced with leading actors and directors for performances at the Arcola Theatre from the 9-13 January with the three monologues performed each evening back to back. They will also be published as a collection ‘Heretic Voices’ by Nick Hern.

Max Gill, Artistic Director of Heretic Productions today said “Our three winning plays stood out to the judges for the belief and conviction each writer showed in their own voice. Their writing is original, honest, and surprising and their handling of the monologue form highly sophisticated. Their words sing on the page but crucially the dramatic tension that thrives at the heart of each means they are begging to be performed.”

“Sonya Hale’s play ‘Dean McBride’ challenges our perceptions of life growing up on a Croydon council estate and our expectations of its young hero. It presents a ‘coming of age’ tale in difficult circumstances in a refreshing and vivid light. Annie Fox’s ‘Woman Caught Unaware’ takes a pressing contemporary issue and presents it with wit, imagination and innovation. Its humour is matched with a searing commentary on attitudes to the female body and its relation to the media, visual culture and victimisation. Tatty’s Hennessy ‘A Hundred Words for Snow’ is a thrilling and brave exploration of mortality, adolescence, and the Arctic. It fuses an epic quest narrative, with a brilliant and intimate portrait of a teenage girl that grips with its expansive scale and human tenderness in equal measure”.

“We’re thrilled that the remarkable work of these playwrights will be performed and published by Nick Hern Books so that audiences can enjoy their work as much as we have.”

Judge Mel Kenyon said today “I was impressed by the strength and variety of the writing and judging between many of the pieces was tough. I am thrilled with the final choices the panel made but wish every single one of the writers the very best for the future.”

Matt Applewhite, Managing Director of Nick Hern Books said, “Writing a monologue is a unique challenge and opportunity: telling a story and holding an audience’s attention with only a single performer’s voice. We’re delighted to collaborate with Heretic Productions in publishing these three fine, now award-winning examples of the form – and giving them a longer life in the future, on the printed page, in the audition room, and in production.”

Woman Caught Unaware by Annie Fox is a searing and bleakly funny examination of the culture of body shaming. This is her debut play.

Dean McBride from Sonya Hale is a vivid and poetic story of loss and redemption set on a Croydon council estate. Hale’s other plays include Glory Whispers at Theatre503. As a writer, she has worked with The Outside Edge Theatre Company, Synergy Theatre Project and Clean Break and her plays have been performed at The Southbank Centre, Latitude Festival, E15 University and in prisons and treatment centres.

A Hundred Words for Snow from Tatty Hennessy describes a teenage girl’s solo journey to the North Pole with her father’s ashes. Her previous work includes an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen commissioned by Theatre N16, and All That Lives developed in association with Ovalhouse.