The Dame Janet Suzman Playwriting Prize provides the opportunity for Department of English and Creative Arts 3rd year and MA students to write an original script for stage every year, with the winner seeing that play performed in the Arts Centre.  

The 2022/23 winner is Michaela Hartley with her play Let's Talk.  

Dame Janet, who chose the winning play, said:  

“I was entirely held by Let’s Talk, wanting to know how these two would resolve old generational habits, while also wanting them to be rescued. This feeling is quite an accomplishment in a writer, that one should believe the squabbling relationship between a grown-up son and his mother. The dialogue, believable and economical, seemed packed with old hurts, and the worsening eye a clever catalyst for tension, as is the diminishing water supply. And for once a character off-stage, the sister, was a helpful source of friction.” 

This rehearsed reading of the 22/23 winning play is part of the overall prize, which includes £1000 cash prize.  

Michaela graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Creative Writing in July 2022 and this is her first staged play.