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Updated: 22 February 2010
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(left to right) Loft President Charles Mulraine;
Patron and competition judge Andrew Davies;
winner Geraldine McNulty; and
Artistic Director Gus MacDonald
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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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