Press Release: Molly Davies Awarded Pinter Commission

Playwright Molly Davies received the 2015 Pinter Commission yesterday (Tuesday 24 March) – an award given annually by Lady Antonia Fraser, Harold Pinter’s widow, to support a new commission at the Royal Court Theatre.

The Pinter Commission is now in its fourth year and is given each year to support a playwright to write a new play for the Royal Court Theatre. There are no restrictions on the award, which can be given to any playwright from a first time, unpublished writer to one already established.

Molly Davies’ first play, A Miracle, was produced in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre as part of the Young Writers’ Festival after Molly took part in several writing groups at the Royal Court. She was subsequently commissioned by the Royal Court, writing God Bless The Child, which looked at government schemes and their place in the education system. The play, produced in 2014 with a cast of eight 8 year olds, was inspired from years of working in the schools system as a Teaching Assistant.

Molly’s other credits include Shooting Truth for National Theatre Connections and Orpheus & Eurydice for National Youth Theatre and Old Vic Tunnels.

Molly Davies, Playwright said:

“Receiving the Pinter Commission is very humbling as Harold Pinter has always been a great inspiration to me. I’m so grateful to Lady Antonia Fraser and the Royal Court for the opportunity and encouragement.”

Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of the Royal Court said:

“I am thrilled to be announcing Molly Davies as the fourth recipient of our prestigious Pinter Commission. Molly’s writing is quietly but fiercely political, is taut and ambitious and I am delighted that this enables us to commission her again. Pinter was not only recognised as an extraordinary playwright and thinker, but was also a vigorous and passionate supporter of new talent, understanding deeply the highs and lows of building a career in theatre. Lady Antonia’s generosity and vision in creating this award ensures his legacy influences long into our future”.

Lady Antonia Fraser said:

“I believe that the Pinter Commission is exactly what Harold would have wanted. Because he had experienced the devastating rejection of his early work, he knew the true value of encouragement. New writing was always intensely important to Harold and Molly Davies is a welcome recipient of the 2015 Award.”

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For more information, please contact Anoushka Hay on 020 7565 5063 anoushkahay@royalcourttheatre.com

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Notes to Editors:

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Harold Pinter at the Royal Court Theatre

Harold Pinter had a long association with the Royal Court Theatre, both as a writer, and director, but also as an actor, starting his career there as an understudy in 1958 on two NF Simpson plays – A Resounding Tinkle and The Hole. In 1960, his first play The Room transferred to the Royal Court in a double bill with The Dumb Waiter. His other productions at the Royal Court included Mountain Language, directed by Katie Mitchell, The New World Order, which he wrote and directed as well as directing David Mamet’s play Oleanna in 1993. His play Ashes to Ashes, which he also directed, was the first play to open the Theatre Upstairs at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End when the Royal Court Theatre closed for refurbishment in 1996. In 2005, as part of the 50th anniversary programme, Pinter returned to the stage as an actor, performing Beckett’s play Krapp’s Last Tape, directed by Ian Rickson, then Artistic Director of the Royal Court.

Alongside his work on stage, Pinter maintained a close relationship with the Royal Court, throughout his career, supporting and encouraging the new writers coming up, as well as working with writers from all over the world at the Royal Court’s international residency each year.