Updated: 22 February 2010

(left to right) Loft President Charles Mulraine; Patron and competition judge Andrew Davies; winner Geraldine McNulty; and Artistic Director Gus MacDonald

Last year, the Loft Theatre Company launched a competition for budding playwrights which proved hugely successful, receiving more than 300 entries from as far afield as California and Africa.

The competition was judged by BAFTA award-winning writer Andrew Davies, who recently became the company’s Patron.

The winner was actress Geraldine McNulty who has a string of theatre and television performing credits to her name. In 2002, she played the title role in the play Betty in London’s West End, directed by Kathy Burke. On television, she is best known as Mrs Raven, the doctor’s miserable receptionist, in the sitcom My Hero, and has also appeared in The Vicar of Dibley and The Catherine Tate Show.

She has previously written a short play called Be My Guest for Radio 4’s Inner Voices series, but Smile, the winning entry in the Loft competition, is her first stage play. It is a dark comedy about a woman who needs to find someone she can trust enough to tell her deepest secrets to – before it is all too late.

Geraldine’s prize is to have her play performed at the Loft Theatre. This will take place in the Douglas Ford Studio in October this year, with a professional director at the helm.

Andrew Davies says: ‘The play is an excellent piece, and Geraldine clearly has writing as well as performing talents. I am looking forward to seeing the production.’

Geraldine is excited at her success: ‘I’m over the moon, and so grateful to the Loft Theatre Company for offering to stage my play – especially when you consider all the time and effort they have spent in reading the entries. It was written especially for the competition and I’m thrilled to have won.’

Artistic Director Gus MacDonald says: ‘We were astonished at the number of entries, though this was certainly helped by the competition being featured on the arts page on the BBC website. I’m looking forward to the production process and watching Smile transformed from Geraldine’s vision to the stage.’

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