Two productions by National Theatre Wales – The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price and In Water I’m Weightless by Kaite O’Reilly – are among five plays shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2013.

The James Tait Black Prize is the UK's oldest literary award. This will be its first ever award for Drama, worth £10,000. The shortlist of productions was chosen from more than 180 plays.

Written by Tim Price, and directed by our artistic director, John E McGrath, The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning tackles one of the most important political and digital stories of our age, and brings that story to both local and global audiences. It was originally performed in schools across Wales in April 2012, and opened at Tasker Milward School, Haverfordwest, which Bradley attended in his teens. The live-stream was watched by more than 8,000 people in 76 countries around the world.

The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning will be restaged at a school in Edinburgh this summer, as part of both the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the British Council Showcase. Again, it will be staged simultaneously on stage, and in a live stream via an interactive website. 

Kaite O’Reilly’s In Water I’m Weightless, which took a provocative look at the body, was performed in Cardiff and London in July and August 2012 by a cast of six Deaf and disabled performers, and was also directed by John E MGrath. It was one of the commissions for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Unlimited programme and was selected to be part of the London 2012 Festival.

O’Reilly’s poetic, poignant and at times explosively funny texts were inspired by the imagination, experiences and attitudes of disabled people across the UK, and were combined on stage with movement direction by the late Nigel Charnock and Catherine Bennett, in a production designed by Paul Clay.

John McGrath said: “We are thrilled and very proud to hear today that, of the five plays on the shortlist for prestigious James Tait Black Award, two were produced by National Theatre Wales. This new international award focuses on plays that show an original voice and which have made a unique contribution to theatre. This is exactly the kind of writing that National Theatre Wales has been aiming to encourage.  

“It is extraordinary that on a shortlist including plays from as far afield as San Francisco, and produced by venues as established as London's National Theatre, National Theatre Wales’ work, and writers from Wales, have been given such prominence. Huge congratulations go to Kaite O'Reilly and Tim Price for being shortlisted.”

 The judging panel for the new drama award includes representatives from Edinburgh University, the National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, where the winning play will be read on 5^th August.