Paines Plough is a touring theatre company led by Joint Artistic Directors Charlotte Bennett and Katie Posner. Dedicated entirely to new writing, we discover, develop and empower writers and share their unique new stories with audiences all over the UK and beyond. 

Founded in 1974, we have worked with over 500 playwrights including James Graham, Sarah Kane, Nathan Bryon, Kae Tempest, Vinay Patel, Mike Bartlett, Chloë Moss, Dennis Kelly, Zia Ahmed and Anna Jordan. Our plays are nationally discovered and locally heard. Each year, we tour our shows to over 30,000 people and work with 400 writers through our nationwide, multi-year writer development programme, Tour The Writer. 

In 2019, alongside Ellie Keel, we co-founded the Women’s Prize for Playwriting to redress the imbalance of stories being told on our national stages, and we have co-produced and toured two of the winners so far: Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me by Amy Trigg and You Bury Me by Ahlam. 

In 2024-25, the company celebrates 50 years of discovering writers and bringing new plays to audiences. At a time where the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain has warned of ‘an existential threat to new playwriting,’ the #PP50for50 campaign aims to raise £50,000 to support the next 50 years of the company’s work nurturing and producing new writing. 

www.painesplough.com
Donate to the #PP50for50 campaign: https://www.justgiving.com/painesplough 

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As the largest theatre in Coventry and a leading regional producing theatre, the Belgrade has a broad, varied programme. 

Popular musicals and entertainment sit happily alongside progressive, critically acclaimed new drama. Our two spaces, B1 and B2, stage exciting productions and events for families, couples, individuals, first timers and confirmed theatregoers. 

As a publicly subsidised independent charitable trust, we also support health and education and build skills and talent in the region. Everything we do is with, by and for our local communities.  

Some of our productions are fresh takes on well-loved stories. Others explore new ground – and have never been told before. To them all, we bring warmth, openness and collaboration, creating new community connections and encouraging different perspectives. By sharing the city’s diverse stories, the Belgrade brings people in Coventry together. We call this co-creation. 

Led by CEO Laura Elliot and Creative Director Corey Campbell, the Belgrade is realising its ambitious plans to build on the Theatre’s rich history of inclusion. Born out of the post-Second World War spirit of peace and reconciliation and named with gratitude for the Serbian capital’s gift of timber to build a new theatre, the Belgrade has offered a warm welcome to visitors since 1958. 

Whether you’re visiting the Belgrade for a show, a business event, or simply for tea, cake and a chat with friends, this unique sense of welcome is still unmissable. 

Sheffield Theatres is home to four theatres: the Crucible, the Sheffield landmark with a world-famous reputation; the Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse, an intimate, versatile space for getting closer to the action; the gleaming Lyceum, the beautiful proscenium that hosts the best of the UK’s touring shows, and the Montgomery, a theatre and arts centre with a longstanding history of championing children’s creativity.

Sheffield Theatres is the ticket to big names and local heroes, timeless treasures and new voices, and each year welcomes over 400k audience members. 

With a longstanding reputation for bold new work, many multi-award-winning shows have been made in Sheffield including Life of Pi and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which have both enjoyed West End and international transfers before returning to the theatres as part of UK tours.  

Other recent transfers include the acclaimed Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and the sensational Sheffield-set new musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge which transferred to the National Theatre and the West End in 2024. Jack Holden and Ed Stambollouian’s KENREX had a sell-out run in the Playhouse in autumn 2024 and opens at Southwark Playhouse Borough in February 2025. 

Committed to investing in the creative leaders of the future, Sheffield Theatres’ dedicated talent development hub, The Bank, supports a new cohort of emerging theatre-makers from the region every year.  

In January 2025, the Montgomery Theatre and Arts Centre joined the Sheffield Theatres family of venues. A leading arts centre for children, families and community groups in Yorkshire, the Montgomery is also home to many of Sheffield Theatres participatory strands for children and young people. 

Crucible Lyceum Playhouse Montgomery 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA                                

sheffieldtheatres.co.uk  

Sheffield Theatres Crucible Trust is a Registered Charity. No. 1120640 and is a company limited by guarantee No. 6035820

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The Women’s Prize for Playwriting is the leading award for female and non-binary playwrights in the UK and Ireland. Founded in 2019 by Ellie Keel and Paines Plough, the prize has a simple mission: to secure equality in the number of male and female writers whose plays are produced on national stages. In 2018, research showed that only 26% of new plays on main stages were written by women. In 2022, still only 30% of main stage productions in the UK had a credited female writer – including librettists and adapters. Since its inception the Prize has awarded £48,000 in prize money, co-produced two of its winning plays with 2021 winner Consumed soon to be staged, and been nominated for an Olivier Award. The Women’s Prize for Playwriting is a registered charity, number 1208693.  

Founder Director: Ellie Keel 
Founding Partner: Paines Plough 
Literary Manager: Charlie Coulthard
Communications Associate: Natasha Ketel
Trustees: Katherine Ashton, Kathleen Bacon (Chair), Ellie Keel
Advisory Council: Rosie Alison, Rupert Gavin, Daisy Goodwin, Aidan Grounds, Tessa Murray

www.womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk  

X: @WomensPlayPrize 
Instagram: @womensprize_forplaywriting