The Louis Esson Prize for Drama: Winner and Shortlist 2008

This was a strong year for drama, with exciting entries from both experienced and emerging writers. Generational inheritance was a prevalent theme, whether as a result of war, imagined pasts and futures, or familial dysfunction. In addition to the shortlist, we commend:

• Patricia Cornelius’ The Call, which is full with yearning, black humour and inarticulate pain
• Tom Holloway’s Beyond the Neck, a restrained, orchestrated investigation of grief, centring around the Port Arthur tragedy
• Kate Mulvany’s The Seed, which grappled with the legacies of family and war, and contrasted with her deliciously humorous The Danger Age.

Judges: Ailsa Piper (Convenor), Mary Lou Jelbart and Wendy Lasica

Winner

The winner of the 2008 Louis Esson Prize for Drama is:

• When the Rain Stops Falling
  by Andrew Bovell (Brink Productions)

Shortlist

	When the Rain Stops Falling - WINNER Andrew Bovell (Brink Productions) This structurally daring and complex play is sweeping yet also intimate, epic yet tender. Transporting us across time and continents, Bovell questions our legacy - the environmental inheritance we are in danger of leaving, and the emotional inheritance of four generations of one family. A gripping, moving examination of consequences, responsibilities and birthrights.
	The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table Wesley Enoch (Currency Press) Wesley Enoch places us in the world of the domestic, then weaves a story that invokes the universal from the particular. At the heart of this play is the formidable and engaging Cookie, whose poetic vernacular and wry humour are a joy. From the stories of this one Indigenous family, broad questions of identity and belonging are raised.
	Toy Symphony Michael Gow (Belvoir Street Theatre) Michael Gow’s exploration of the genesis of artistic impulse is visceral, poetic and theatrical. His central character, Roland, uses language as both weapon and toy, and is utterly compelling even at his most infuriating. The play is a wild ride, via lost suburban landscapes, through Roland’s psyche and imagination. Funny, witty, bleak, inventive and ultimately, hopeful.