A (Short) History Of Papatango
Founded in 2008 and registered as a charity in 2013, Papatango has risen – without core funding, private backing or personal privilege – to be perhaps the UK’s leading new writing company.Â
Our productions have won Olivier, Alfred Fagon, OffWestEnd and many other awards. Our creative learning programme has won Outstanding Drama Initiative at the Music and Drama Education Awards. Our leadership team has won the Genesis Foundation Prize for championing new talent and been named in The Stage 25 list of sector leaders.
Put simply, both our professional productions and our participation programmes are among the best in UK theatre.
Here’s how a scratch start-up founded by three working-class actors, juggling jobs in pubs and shops, somehow made it here.
The Papatango New Writing Prize is launched. The first playwriting award to guarantee an emerging writer a full production, publication, commission and royalties, it receives 80 entries and is won by debut writer Dominic Mitchell (who will go on to win BAFTAs for his BBC show In The Flesh).
Foxfinder, written by Dawn King and directed by Blanche McIntyre, is a sensational hit, winning OffWestEnd and Critics’ Circle awards and being named in The Independent’s top 5 plays of the year; it will go on to premiere worldwide.
George becomes sole Artistic Director, with Chris Foxon joining as Executive Director; both continue to work multiple other jobs to support themselves.
Papatango launches the Resident Playwright scheme, winning a BBC Fellowship to commission May Sumbwanyambe, whose debut play After Independence will be directed by George in 2016, winning the Alfred Fagon Audience Award and being adapted by Papatango for BBC Radio 4.
Papatango launches GoWrite, a completely free and accessible creative learning programme. Providing workshops, productions and publications in state schools, regional venues and community centres in every region of England, it has so far transformed over 7,000 young people into produced/published writers and has developed or funded new productions in London, Newcastle, Bristol, Luton, Havant, Taunton, Plymouth, Bury St Edmunds, Liverpool, Manchester, Somerset, Devon, Dorset and even Copenhagen.
Papatango’s first national tour, of Hanna by Samantha Potter, is directed by George and visits 10 venues across England and Wales.
Papatango’s book Being A Playwright: A Career Guide For Writers is written by Chris and George and published by Nick Hern Books. Demystifying routes into playwriting and helping anyone break into theatre, it is an Amazon bestseller.
A symposium is held at London City Hall to mark Papatango’s tenth anniversary, with speakers including Sheila Atim, Lilli Geissendorfer, James Graham, Winsome Pinnock and Natasha Tripney.Â
Papatango’s first co-production, with English Touring Theatre, sees Iman Qureshi’s Prize-winning The Funeral Director premiere in London before touring to Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford.
Papatango commence WriteWest, following years of research and mapping of playwriting provision in South-West England (our home region). Working with a range of local partners, WriteWest redresses major gaps in provision and provides playwriting and producing resources – including productions and funding – in communities otherwise at risk of cultural exclusion.
The final Papatango New Writing Prize at Southwark Playhouse is Shook by Samuel Bailey, directed by George. It is nominated for 7 OffWestEnd Awards and The Stage Debut Award, earns rave reviews and embarks on a sell-out national tour.
Papatango lead the industry’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, launching Isolated But Open: Voices From Across The Shutdown within 12 hours of theatres closing. This open-application scheme generates paid work for writers and actors, inspires over 2000 new short plays, and produces and publishes 12 in free digital streams watched by over 12000 people. This pioneers a digital response to venue closures. The recordings are later enshrined in the British Library’s permanent archive as a major cultural achievement.Â
The coronavirus pandemic forces the cancellation of Shook’s West End premiere. Instead, we collaborate with BAFTA-winning Hollywood director James Bobin to film the production, and release it on our own custom-built streaming platform. Named critic’s pick in The New York Times, it is watched in 24 countries and broadcast on Sky Arts. Samuel Bailey wins The Times Breakthrough Award – named the most promising emerging artist in any form – at the Sky Arts Awards in 2021.
The Papatango New Writing Prize moves to the Bush Theatre, its first main stage. The production of the winner, Old Bridge by debut British-Bosnian playwright and refugee Igor Memic, directed by Selma Dimitrijevic, is postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. It is also streamed digitally. A scheduled transfer to Amsterdam is cancelled due to a new coronavirus outbreak.
The Papatango New Writing Prize is reimagined to respond to the ongoing closure of theatres. It expands to award three writers audio productions, publication and commissions, recruiting their casts and creatives from open applications. The winning plays by Nkenna Akunna, Tom Powell and Tajinder Singh Hayer tour to 15 venues in free listening stations, accompanied by braille scripts.
GoWrite expands to include free workshops in Pupil Referral Units and for refugee and carer groups. More people benefit from our completely free education offer than ever before.Â
George and Chris are named in The Stage 25, a select list of artists shaping theatre’s future.
George wins The Genesis Foundation Prize, using the £25,000 to launch a new commissioning model. The first year sees Shook playwright Samuel Bailey commissioned, with the support of director Sally Cookson and Bristol Old Vic, to write a new play for main stages.
Our production of Old Bridge wins an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre. Old Bridge also goes on to earn Critics' Circle and two OffWestEnd Awards.
Chris's adaptation of Carnegie Medal-winner Robert Westall's classic Geordie ghost story is our first North-East premiere, first adaptation and first family show. A sell-out run in Tyneside is followed by a tour to 12 venues the next year.
Laura Waldren's Prize-winning Some Demon premieres at Arcola Theatre then transfers for a sell-out run at Bristol Old Vic. This "astonishing debut" (Telegraph) is nominated for 4 OffWestEnd Awards.
Hannah Doran’s Prize-winning The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights premieres at the Park Theatre, opening to great critical acclaim, earning a Critics’ Circle Award nomination and an OffWestEnd Award for design.
Our GoWrite programme wins a Music and Drama Education Award for Outstanding Drama Initiative.
Hannah Doran wins the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for The Meat Kings! (Inc.) of Brooklyn Heights.