The winner of Salford Arts Theatre’s Shelagh Delaney New Writing award is Joanna Nicks for her play And it Rains.
The award celebrates up and coming writing talent by giving the winner the opportunity for their play to be fully produced and performed at Salford Arts Theatre.
The play is about two best friends living together in a city where there has been a terror attack. It’s about the collision of personal crisis and world events. It develops the idea of them falling apart while their city comes together in the wake of something awful.
Joanna, originally from Wakefield but now living in Manchester, said: “I wanted it to be a quiet, small play about big things. It’s about friendship, connection, and the feeling of knowing there must be more to life and then looking for it.”
Joanna, who has been writing since 2019, added: “I started writing properly after an audition at The Royal Exchange where I mentioned that I had written a few scenes. Suzanne Bell persuaded me to turn my few scenes into a play and enter it into the Bruntwood Prize, And I guess it wasn’t bad because it got longlisted. I feel really lucky that my work was acknowledged early on like this. I’ve had so many rejections since and I’m not sure I’d have had the confidence to keep going if they’d all come first.”
The play is currently in the works of being produced by Salford Arts Theatre.
Joanna continued: “I’m excited to have support from Salford Arts Theatre in developing my play. I can’t wait to find the actors who will play my characters, to see what they bring to it and how the play changes with their input.”
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