Playwright Natasha Langridge has won the 2010 Meyer-Whitworth Award for her play Shraddha, which played at Soho theatre last year.
Set in a Romany community in East London, Shraddha told the love story between Romany girl Pearl and Joe, a boy from the local council estate. After being inspired to write the play by the 2007 eviction of Romanies in Hackney, Langridge spent two years researching Gypsy stories and visiting communities around the UK.
Langridge’s previous plays include Beverley, Breathing In Brixton, The Method and Worthing Whispers.
Supported by the National Theatre Foundation, the Meyer-Whitworth Award is an annual prize of £10,000 intended to help further the careers of UK playwrights who are not yet established. Previous winners include Philip Ridley, David Harrower, Conor McPherson, Dennis Kelly and Owen McCafferty.
Edward Kemp, one of the judges, commented: “It’s thrilling to encounter a playwright who first of all takes the time thoroughly to research an unseen corner of British culture, and then enters so passionately and creatively into the challenges of bringing that story to the stage. Shraddha displays some breath-taking bits of writing and a vivid theatrical imagination; it’s the kind of play that makes you hungry to know what the writer will produce next.”
CB