Tim X Atack has been announced as this year’s winner of the Bruntwood Prize for his play Heartworm.
Tim X Atack is an award- winning writer, composer and sound designer for stage and screen. His previous plays have already been met with great acclaim, a number having been adapted for BBC Radio 4 with The Morpeth Carol winning best drama at the 2014 Radio Academy Awards.
He now joins the Bruntwood Prize’s prestigious alumni that includes leading UK playwrights such as Katherine Soper, Phil Porter, Duncan Macmillan, Alistair McDowall, Vivienne Franzmann and Anna Jordan.
Tim X Atack will receive £16,000 and Heartworm will be co-produced between the Royal Exchange and Royal Court theatres. On winning the 2017 Bruntwood Prize, Timothy X Atack said: ‘It is the most amazing boost to my confidence as a writer and theatre-maker. I’m truly excited for conversations to begin about making a play I’m very proud of in a theatre I really love’.
Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director, Royal Court Theatre commented:”We are delighted to be continuing our partnership with the Royal Exchange Theatre to bring the winner of the prestigious Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting to life in our theatres. Bruntwood is a vital opportunity for the RC to connect with writers and plays who may not necessarily come through our structures and whose voice and talent will contribute to the Theatre landscape for years to come. Following the huge success of both WISH LIST by Katherine Soper and YEN by Anna Jordan, it will be wonderful to work again with the team at the Royal Exchange Theatre to bring Tim X Atack’s beautifully haunting script to life. We felt HEARTWORM is a brilliantly unnerving and visceral piece of work by a distinctive and vividly theatrical voice.”
