New Theatre has announced the shortlist for The Silver Gull Play Award for 2024. With an extremely high standard of scripts submitted, this year’s competition attracted a record number of entries.
Each script was assessed several times. The identity of the writers was kept anonymous from the judges, so the shortlist truly reflects a determination made solely on merit.
After much deliberation, a shortlist of five plays has been selected. The judges were impressed by how each writer responded to the brief for plays that speak to New Theatre’s ethos of ‘Plays With a Purpose’, and the merit of scripts demonstrates the amazing strength and diversity of playwriting in this country.
The Silver Gull Play Award 2025 shortlist:
The Crypt Dialogues – Peter Fleming
Lavender Sky – Jack Kearney
First, Do No Harm – Grace Malouf
Brief Candle – Simon Thomson
The Vanya Variations – Steven Vidler
The standard was so high this year, that a further two plays were Highly Commended: Hiding Lights in Dark Places by Meg McDonald, and The Bureau of Imagined Genealogy by Zoe Hogan.
About the Playwrights:
Peter Fleming
Peter’s works include Noli Me Tangere (Riverside Theatre Parramatta) Frank Christie Frank Clarke! (Sydney Fringe Festival 2012) both with collaborator Allan McFadden, A Brief History of Love, on the life of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (ABC Radio Drama), The Wolf in the Sunlight (ABC Radio Drama, Ferknerkle Theatrical Productions), The Siege of Cafe Glebe (Ferknerkle), and Disputed Territories (Excelsia). He also contributed to the PACT Theatre production Cravings, produced the Stephen Sondheim Evening at Sydney Town Hall (for which he also wrote the narration) and The Incredible Disappearing Theatre Trick performance tour of Sydney’s historic theatre sites for the Australian National Playwrights Centre. He has also written Leonard Bernstein: A Life in Letters and Notes, Empire Statesman: Al Smith, and Her Country’s Pride (with Allan McFadden). He has had play readings of Obedience, A Body for the Fuhrer, and Madame de at Parnassus Den. The Crypt Dialogues and It Takes Two are his latest works.
Jack Kearney
Jack is an Australian playwright, film-maker and lawyer. His first play Unperturbed premiered at the 2022 Adelaide Fringe Festival to generous critical reception before performing a sell-out run in Sydney the following year where it was nominated for Best in Theatre. His second play In Paraburdoo enjoyed a sold-out run at The Actors Pulse playhouse in Redfern in 2024. His third play Born on a Thursday is set to run a full season in late-2025 at the Old Fitz Theatre under the stewardship of New Ghosts Theatre Company. He has worked extensively on the stage show A Taste of Ireland, which has since toured Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. His screen work includes writing, directing and producing the sketch comedy web-series The Forecast (2020), the award winning short-film Goodnight Sal (2021), and the independent feature film The Prep Room (2024) which was licensed and distributed by Amazon Prime Video and Channel Nine. Jack holds a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of Technology, Sydney, as well as a Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian College of Law. He is an admitted lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Grace Malouf
Grace writes twisted, darkly funny stories about control, collapse, and family dysfunction. She won the 2024 Katie Lees Fellowship, has been shortlisted for the Griffin Award, Belvoir’s 25A, and the Old Fitz New Works Festival, and her work has been programmed in Storytellers Festival, Bondi Feast, and NIDA’s Festival of Emerging Artists. She was a finalist in the 2025 AACTA/Screenworks Feature Film Pitch, and has had two short films made and a feature film optioned. Grace holds an MFA from NIDA, and has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Laws (Honours) from UQ – a period punctuated by annual breakdowns over not knowing what to do with her life. Grace posts horrid little stories about her life on TikTok and Instagram (@gmalsdeadrats), which she sincerely hopes will never be used as evidence against her.
Simon Thomson
Simon is a writer, director, and actor working on unceded Gadigal land. His writing engages real-world issues through the lens of dark comedy, surrealism, and magical realism. Having been born in Mauritius, lived in India and Papua New Guinea, and Western Sydney, Simon is interested in stories that transcend parochial Anglo-centric myths of rural Australia and are more representative of Australian metropolitan and multicultural cities. He has written four full-length plays, two of which have been produced and performed around Sydney. His plays, The Park (premiering at the New Theatre) and The Dragonfly, were both shortlisted for the Silvergull Award, with The Dragonfly also long-listed for the AWG Emerging Writers’ Award and shortlisted for the Cooper Prize. His latest play (written with Emma Wright), She Threaded Dangerously, was highly commended at the last Silvergull Awards and will have its world premiere at the Old Fitz in September.
Steven Vidler
Steve is an award winning actor, writer and director. His debut feature film as director, Blackrock, premiered at Sundance and was nominated for 5 AFI Awards including Best Film. His mini-series A Difficult Woman, co-created with Nicholas Hammond for the ABC, won the Silver World Medal for best mini-series at the New York Festivals. His feature film Standing Up For Sunny premiered at Sydney Film Festival and won the 2020 AACTA Award for Best Indie Film. Steve also holds a research PhD from Macquarie University exploring the cognitive science of audience engagement with character. He has taught Screenwriting at AFTRS and served as a Project Officer and Assessor for Screen NSW and Screen Australia. His play Love Muscle was performed by the NIDA Company. The Vanya Variation is his second full-length play and the result of a decades-long love affair with the works of Anton Chekhov.
Congratulations to the shortlisted writers, who will share in a total prize pool of $7000 courtesy of sponsor Joy Minter. New Theatre are looking forward to welcoming you to their presentation of rehearsed readings of excerpts from the shortlisted plays, at the awards night on Monday 13 October, when the winner will be announced. For more information, visit: www.newtheatre.org.au for details.
Image: The Silver Gull by Michael Tonkin